15 Of The Best NASCAR Throwback Paint Schemes We’ll See This Weekend At Darlington

A race car on a track

NASCAR is headed to Darlington this weekend, which means it’s time for the sport’s annual “throwback” weekend.

Since 2015, Darlington Raceway has used one of its race weekends as a throwback to pay tribute to the history of the sport, and drivers and teams use the weekend to roll out some old-school paint schemes honoring some of NASCAR’s most legendary drivers and their iconic rides.

If you’ve been a fan of NASCAR for awhile, some of these schemes are sure to evoke some serious nostalgia – and even if you haven’t, throwback weekend is a good way to learn about the history of the sport.

So with that, here are some of the best throwback paint schemes that we’ll see on the track this weekend at Darlington.

Tyler Reddick

Reddick’s #8 Cup Series car will pay tribute to country singer and NASCAR driver Marty Robbins – and with sponsorship from Quartz Hill Records, will feature Joe Nichols on the hood.

Chase Elliott

Chase Elliott‘s throwback scheme will honor Alan Kulwicki, the 1992 Cup Series champion who was voted one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers. Kulwicki was tragically killed in a plane crash the year after his championship win.

Ryan Blaney

Blaney will be doing a different kind of throwback this year, with a paint scheme inspired by the car he drove in the 2010 PASS Series at the age of 16 as he was working his way up to NASCAR.

Chase Briscoe

It’s only appropriate for the driver of the #14 car to honor the most legendary name to ever run that number – AJ Foyt.

Bubba Wallace

NASCAR’s only black driver in its top series will pay tribute to Wendell Scott, the first black driver to ever win in what is now the Cup Series.

William Byron

Byron’s #24 car, already an iconic car in its own right, will sport the Valvoline colors this weekend in honor of legendary member of the “Alabama Gang,” Neil Bonnett.

Michael McDowell

This year’s Daytona 500 winner will sport the paint scheme of another Daytona 500-winning car: Bill Elliott’s 1984 Coors Ford.

Cole Custer

Because it’s also Mother’s Day weekend, Cole Custer’s #41 Stewart-Haas Motorsports Ford will pay tribute to Margaret Haas, mother of car owner Gene Haas.

Erik Jones

The driver of the iconic #43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevy will be honoring John Andretti, sporting the colors on the 43 car that Andretti drove to a win at Martinsville in 1999. Andretti unfortunately passed away from colon cancer in January 2020.

Jeffrey Earnhardt

With a name like Earnhardt, you know who this guy’s honoring for throwback weekend. The grandson of Dale Earnhardt will honor the Intimidator with his #0 Xfinity Series ride, throwing it back to the patriotic scheme that his grandfather drove in the 1996 All-Star Race to promote the Olympics in Atlanta.

Michael Annett

Annett’s Xfinity Series car will honor Darrell Waltrip’s iconic Gatorade scheme from 1979.

Joe Graf, Jr.

Graf’s taking a different route with his Xfinity Series ride, driving a throwback scheme inspired by the DeLorean time machine from Back to the Future.

Josh Berry

Berry’s JR Motorsports Xfinity ride will honor his boss, throwing it back to Dale Earnhardt, Jr.‘s 2001-Pepsi 400 winning paint scheme. Earnhardt, Jr. won that race in his first return to Daytona after losing his father on the same track, and gave us one of the most emotional wins in NASCAR history.

Brandon Brown

Brandon Brown’s #68 Xfinity car will feature a throwback to Dale Jarrett’s 2002 UPS ride. I mean, it makes sense for a driver named Brown to sport the colors of a company whose slogan was “What Can Brown Do For You?” (And as a Dale Jarrett fan when I was growing up, this one may be my personal favorite of all the throwbacks).

Riley Herbst

Herbst’s Stewart-Haas Racing Xfinity Series ride will honor his car owner Tony Stewart, sporting the scheme that Smoke drove to win the 1999 Rookie of the Year Award during his first full season in the Cup Series.

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