解:$(1) $将$A(-1,0)、$$C(6,0)$代入$y = ax^2+bx + 3,$得
$\begin {cases}a - b + 3 = 0\\36a + 6b + 3 = 0\end {cases},$解得$\begin {cases}a = -\dfrac {1}{2}\\b = \dfrac {5}{2}\end {cases},$
∴抛物线对应的函数表达式为$y = -\frac {1}{2}x^2+\frac {5}{2}x + 3$
$(2) $如图$①,$过点$P $作$PQ// BC$交$y$轴于点$Q,$连接$CQ,$则
$S_{\triangle QBC}=S_{\triangle PBC}=24,$
∴$\frac {1}{2}BQ· CO = 24。$
∵点$C(6,0),$则$CO = 6,$
∴$BQ=\frac {24×2}{CO}=8。$
在$y = -\frac {1}{2}x^2+\frac {5}{2}x + 3$中,令$x = 0,$得$y = 3,$
∴$B(0,3),$
∴$OB = 3,$
∴$OQ = BQ - OB = 5,$
∴$Q(0,-5)。$
由$B(0,3)、$$C(6,0),$得$y_{BC}=-\frac {1}{2}x + 3。$
∵$PQ// BC,$
∴$y_{PQ}=-\frac {1}{2}x - 5。$
令$-\frac {1}{2}x - 5 = -\frac {1}{2}x^2+\frac {5}{2}x + 3,$得$x = - 2$或$x = 8,$
∴点$P $的坐标为$(-2,-4)$或$(8,-9)$