“Absolutely Lived up to His Nickname”: Jimmie Johnson Remembers Dale Earnhardt Before Darlington Tribute

The NASCAR throwback weekend at Darlington Raceway is upon us. There are many interesting paint schemes that drivers are running on their cars in honor of past champions and legends of the sport. However, the No. 48 of Jimmie Johnson caught the most attention as it honors three men who have won 21 NASCAR Cup Series titles between them.

The No. 48 will run a paint scheme which is a combination of schemes used by Johnson’s colleagues in the ‘7 Cup Series titles’ club – Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt. It is the sort of scheme that can intimidate any other driver that looks at it. How fitting, that Dale Earnhardt was known as ‘The Intimidator’ back in his racing days.

Jimmie Johnson pays tribute to ‘The Intimidator’

On the eve of the weekend action, Jimmie Johnson expressed his admiration for Dale Earnhardt through a tribute post on Twitter.

Johnson said that Dale Earnhardt is the one driver he wished he could have raced against. He lauded Earnhardt’s will to win. He also expressed that his fellow seven-time Cup champion lived up to his nickname.

Shades of Earnhardt’s iconic No. 3 on Johnson’s Darlington car

The top of Johnson’s car will feature the scheme used by Petty. The sides are similar to those used by Dale Earnhardt.

Johnson revealed the paint scheme a few weeks ago during his appearance on Dale Earnhardt Jr’s podcast. Earnhardt Jr. is Earnhardt’s son and also a former NASCAR driver. Johnson gave details about the similarities between his Darlington paint scheme and Earnhardt’s No. 3 car.

“To play with the scheme, it was split in a few different ways. Once I sent you (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) the text on it, I think we were able to really fine-tune the attributes that each paint scheme kind of had in them. Another tweak I just love is the 48 (on the sides) is leaning like the 3,” Johnson said.

Jimmie Johnson will retire from full-time NASCAR competition at the end of the season, with 83 career wins. Earnhardt had 76 race wins over the course of his career. However, he had 428 top-10 finishes to Johnson’s 373.