NASCAR THROWBACK WEEKEND: A GUIDE TO ALL THE RETRO PAINT SCHEMES RUNNING AT DARLINGTON RACEWAY THIS WEEK
Each year at Darlington Raceway, the heritage of stock car racing is celebrated with the racers of today paying tribute to those who have come before them through the track's throwback weekend. The culmination of throwback weekend will come through Sunday's Goodyear 400 for the NASCAR Cup Series, which will feature many throwback paint schemes throughout the field.
The "theme" of this year's throwback weekend actually centers around grassroots racing, as competitors were encouraged to select paint schemes from their own personal racing histories at the local and regional levels on their way to NASCAR's peak. Several drivers have obliged, bringing paint schemes that they (or their crew members) raced at the short track level back to life on their Cup cars. However, some still opted to stick with paint schemes from throughout NASCAR's history, spanning all the way from the early 1950s to as recently as the early 2010s.
Here is a complete and comprehensive look at each of the throwback paint schemes that will run this week at Darlington, including the stories behind the cars that were once raced. These paint schemes will all be part of a fan vote for the Best In Show between the NASCAR Cup Series, Xfinity Series and Craftsman Truck Series this weekend.
Ross Chastain's throwback will commemorate the 35th anniversary of the Busch Light brand with one of the beer's classic cans. This particular paint scheme harkens back to Busch Light's branding from the 1990s.
Austin Dillon will run a throwback based on Dale Earnhardt's golden Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet from 1998. The Intimidator ran this car in The Winston at Charlotte Motor Speedway, but finished 19th after an early crash.
Josh Berry will run a throwback paint scheme to the late model that crew chief Rodney Childers raced at Tri-County Motor Speedway in Hudson, N.C. back in 1998. Prior to becoming a Cup champion crew chief, Childers was an aspiring racer and even made one start in the NASCAR Busch Series at Myrtle Beach in 2000.
Kyle Larson's throwback scheme is to one of NASCAR's most recognizable paint schemes of the 1990s, the No. 5 Kellogg's Corn Flakes Chevrolet driven by Terry Labonte. This paint scheme adorned Labonte's car from 1994 to 1999, winning the 1996 Cup championship in that span.
Brad Keselowski's Castrol throwback scheme will be based on the Castrol TOM'S Toyota Supra GT that became enormously popular in Japan's Super GT series in the 1990s. The car made its debut in the All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship in 1995, helping to establish the GT500 class.
Corey LaJoie will run a throwback based on his 2012 K&N Pro Series East car, specifically the car he earned his first career victory with. LaJoie earned his first win at Bowman Gray Stadium in June 2012 then went on to win four races in total during the year.
Chase Elliott will run a throwback to the National Guard Chevrolet that Dale Earnhardt Jr. drove in 2014, a car most famous for winning that year's Daytona 500. 2014 was one of Earnhardt's most successful seasons late in his Cup career, as he won his second Daytona 500 while also sweeping the season at Pocono and then earning a seminal, long-sought victory at Martinsville.
Chase Briscoe's throwback is based on the Briscoe Racing sprint car team that his family, specifically Dick and Kevin Briscoe, ran. The hood features the names of every driver that drove for Briscoe Racing, which includes 14 National Sprint Car Hall of Famers -- including several who overlapped with NASCAR like Christopher Bell, Dave Blaney, Andy Hillenburg and Steve Kinser.
Kaz Grala will run a throwback to the No. 15 Boss 302 Ford Mustang that Parnelli Jones drove in the SCCA Trans-Am Championship in 1969. This car was prepared by NASCAR legend Bud Moore, and Jones would wind up finishing second to Mark Donohue in that year's championship standings.
Harrison Burton's throwback will be based on The Leonard Wood Special, one of the very first cars that Wood Brothers Racing ever fielded. The Leonard Wood Special, a 1939 Ford, was fielded by brothers Leonard and Glenn Wood beginning in 1953.
William Byron's will run a throwback to Jeff Gordon's "Firestorm" DuPont/Axalta paint scheme, which debuted in 2009 and then went on to be featured throughout the early 2010s. While the move to a black base was a radical step in evolving the "Fire & Flames" paint scheme Gordon ran throughout the 2000s, he only earned one victory with this paint scheme at Pocono in 2011.
Todd Gilliland's throwback is to the late model he ran in the inaugural CARS Tour Late Model Stock Tour race at Southern National Motorsports Park back in 2015. Gilliland won that race in dramatic fashion, taking the lead from Deac McCaskill in a green-white-checkered finish.
Ryan Preece will run a throwback to the Flamingo Motorsports car that he won the 2013 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship in. Preece spent three seasons driving the No. 16 for car owner Eric Sanderson from 2012 to 2014, winning eight times and finishing either first or second in points all three years.
Tyler Reddick's throwback is to the No. 29 Ford that Tim Richmond raced for car owner Mike Lovern at Rockingham early in the 1982 season. Interestingly, this was the first race that Richmond ever ran with crew chief Harry Hyde, a pairing that would experience tremendous success at Hendrick Motorsports later in the decade.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s Oscar Mayer throwback pays homage to the Oscar Mayer Ford driven by Mark Martin in the 2004 Budweiser Shootout at Daytona. Martin would start seventh in that race and finish fourth.
Alex Bowman's throwback paint scheme will be to the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet that ran from 2002 to 2005, honoring both Jimmie Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus' induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. The pairing of Johnson and Knaus got off to a fast start when they won the pole for the 2002 Daytona 500, and they would go on to win 18 races and earn two runner-up finishes in the Cup Series standings with this as their primary paint scheme.
Zane Smith will throw back to the No. 71 K&K Insurance Dodge Charger owned by Nord Krauskopf, particularly the point in time in which it was driven by Dave Marcis. Marcis earned four of his five career Cup wins driving for Krauskopf from 1974 to 1976, and he would later adopt the No. 71 for himself as a owner/driver for many years.
Daniel Suarez's throwback scheme is based on the Quaker State Honda that Mexican racing great Adrian Fernandez drove in the Indy Racing League in 2004. Fernandez won three times that season at Kentucky, Chicagoland and Fontana en route to finishing fifth in the championship standings.