NASCAR Throwback Week: Here Are All the Special Schemes for the Darlington Race

For the next stop in its 2021 season, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to the Darlington Raceway this weekend. Several teams usually debut a wide variety of Throwback paint schemes for the race, and most of these drivers honor past legends by running their paint schemes.

The Throwback weekend generally pays tribute to various Hall of Famers, legends, team owners, and valuable sponsors. The best part is that the 2021 edition is not restricted to any specific era. So, all the NASCAR drivers can go all out in their respective tributes to the racing legends.

READ MORE: Brad Keselowski Earns Pole: Starting Line-Up for NASCAR Cup Series 2021 Goodyear 400 Darlington Throwback Race

As such, Quin Houff unveiled a red and white paint scheme. Apparently, StarCom Racing wanted to commemorate John Andretti and his Ford Thunderbird RCA paint scheme.

Meanwhile, Kyle Larson decided to turn back the clock on his racing career. The Asian-American driver will sport the livery that his first-ever race car bore. As it turned out, Majik Motorsports was Larson‘s family racing team, so this is a brilliant way for him to re-visit his racing roots.

Meanwhile, teammate Chase Elliott is paying tribute to NASCAR legend, Alan Kulwicki. He will run the same livery that Kulwicki sported when he won the 1992 NASCAR Cup Series championship.

What are the various NASCAR Cup Series liveries?

Next on the list is Aric Almirola, who will pay tribute to former NASCAR driver Mark Martin. The latter raced sported this livery on many occasions in the Xfinity Series. Out of 13 Xfinity races, the former driver finished in the Top 5 in 12 of them, and sixth in his 13th.

Apparently, red and white seems to be a common theme, as Denny Hamlin is going to run a similar paint scheme. The #11 Joe Gibbs Racing driver is paying tribute to Julius “Slick” Johnson.

Ryan Blaney, however, is following a similar path to Kyle Larson. To be precise, he is acknowledging his racing roots and paying tribute to his Late Model racing career.

Which other drivers have unveiled new liveries?

Trending

HMS Legend’s Demise Has Emotional Jeff Gordon Echoing Rick Hendrick’s Humble Admission

NASCAR’s Setback Against Michael Jordan Could Potentially Open the Gates for Other Teams to Follow Suit

Tony Stewart’s Business Partner Sells Off Iconic ‘Mini Eldora’ Racetrack

Dale Jr’s Iconic Return With $101 Billion Partner, Outshines Kyle Larson & Chase Elliott

87-YO Richard ‘The King’ Petty on Cloud Nine, Blessed With 2 New Family Members

Cup Series rookie Chase Briscoe is running AJ Foyt’s 1986 Copenhagen paint scheme. That was the year Foyt competed in five NASCAR Cup Series races and took a season-best 17th-place finish at Atlanta.

As an Australian, James Davison wanted to hail the efforts of Dick Johnson. This particular livery featured in the 1989 and 1990 seasons and highlighted Johnson’s V8 Supercars career.

Kyle Busch is the next driver with a special livery. However, in his case, the #18 Joe Gibbs Racing driver is celebrating M&M’s 80th anniversary, so this warrants a special livery.

Martin Truex Jr will be the next to unveil a special livery, and he is following Larson’s example as well. As it turns out, he wants to pay tribute to his Furniture Row Racing days.

Just like Quin Houff, Joey Logano is also immortalizing the Andretti family. The only difference is that he is focusing on the legendary Mario Andretti with his Shell-inspired livery.

Meanwhile, 23XI Racing‘s Bubba Wallace will pay tribute to fellow African-American driver, Wendell Scott. Scott is regarded as a trailblazer for African-Americans as he was the first full-time driver in the sport. He also boasts of one race win to his name.

Other drivers include William Byron, Michael McDowell, Ryan Preece, Anthony Alfredo, Ross Chastain, and Erik Jones. Even Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Alex Bowman, Josh Bilicki, Justin Haley, and BJ McLeod unveiled new liveries.

Read More: Where and What Time to Watch the NASCAR Cup Series 2021 Goodyear 400 Darlington Throwback Race?