Darlington Throwbacks 2018: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good

Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing #3

I may be a bit biased being that I was a Dale Earnhardt super-fan, but Austion Dillon had the absolute best throwback scheme of the weekend. Dillion pays tribute to the “Silver Secret” scheme that Dale Earnhardt drove in the 1995 Winston (all-star race). Very few of Earnhardt’s team members knew about the car until it rolled off the truck in Charlotte. The cool part of Dillon’s scheme is that it was revealed the same way; kept a secret until it rolled off the truck in Darlington.

Joey Logano Penske Racing #22

Oops, my bias is showing again. Steve Park was my first favorite driver not named Earnhardt (though he did drive for him). Throwing the 22 car back to the 1998 Pennzoil scheme driven by Park at DEI was one of the best ideas of the year. Though Pennzoil has sponsored cars before Park’s time, he may have driven the most recognizable one. The car looks beautiful, and it will be hard for Penske to top it in the future. To top it all off, the Penske Racing teams finally were fast, and looked like they belong with the rest of the field.

Matt DiBenedetto GoFas Racing #32

This was an unexpected tribute for me. GoFas Racing is honoring NBC analyst Jeff Burton, the mayor of the garage, with their #32 Ford this weekend. The car is painted nearly identical to Burton’s late 90’s Exide Batteries machine. I’m loving all the throwbacks to the 90’s, the era in which I fell in love with NASCAR.

Honorable Mentions

The Bad

Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports #48

Johnson’s team and Hendrick Motorsports celebrated HMS’ 200th win with this “throwback” to 2012. That’s right, it throws back SIX YEARS! I’m sorry. That just doesn’t qualify. Period. End of story. This is bad. It was a great accomplishment for the team, and it happened at Darlington, so I get what they were going for, but Johnson has had so many other iconic schemes. They could have even went the route of an old Brett Bodine or Mike Skinner Lowe’s scheme to celebrate Lowe’s’ time in the sport given their departure after the season.

Michael McDowell Front Row Motorsports #34

Is this 2016? Is this 2017? You may ask yourself that because the 34 car HAS THE SAME EXACT LOVE’S THROWBACK SCHEME FOR THE THIRD CONSECUTIVE YEAR! There’s not much more I need to say about this. Awful.

Landon Cassill StarCom Racing #00

This scheme has been done way too many times. It’s oversaturation at this point. We’ve seen the Miller High Life Bobby Allison tribute year after year, on car after car. That’s enough. We get it. It was a cool car driven by a Hall of Fame driver. Let’s be more original and see if we can do better. Buckshot Jones throwback anyone??

Honorable Mentions

The Ugly

Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing #42

This scheme was a fan submission that the CGR team chose to bring to life. I understand wanting to honor Davey Allison and his famous Red, White, Black, and Gold Texaco scheme, but this one misses the mark. Yes, it is painted in the same fashion, but the colors are those of DC Solar and not of Texaco! Teams have to be loyal to sponsors, but maybe they should have chosen another scheme that would fit better with the colors of DC Solar. This one pains me because Larson is my favorite driver, but it has to be said. This scheme is U.G.L.Y. The car was dominant, but that doesn’t change a thing.

Bubba Wallace Richard Petty Motorsports #43

Another tribute to the King, and that’s understandable. The guy is arguably the best driver ever, and has many iconic schemes. They are getting boring though. Even after their secret peel-back reveal, I still didn’t get enough excitement from this car. I would like to see a throwback to one of Petty’s other popular drivers, John Andretti. Andretti is going through a tough cancer battle right now, and I think it’s the least the team could do to give him the honor of celebrating with Wallace.

Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing #1

The throwback is ugly. The car it throws back to is ugly. There’s not much you can do here besides pick a better tribute, though I understood why they did it (to celebrate the Big Mac’s 50th anniversary). It just looks awful.

Honorable Mentions

Party Poopers

Seven cars in the field chose not to run throwback schemes: 6, 10, 15, 19(consecutive years), 52, 78, 88. They didn't deserve to win, so I'm glad they didn't.

*Bonus: Best and Worst Xfinity Schemes!

Best

Tyler Reddick JR Motorsports #9

Reddick's tribute to Tim Richmond is absolutely on point. Same sponsor and all. Beautiful car.

Ryan Reed Roush Fenway Racing #16

This throwback to Greg Biffle's Cup Series days barely qualifies as a throwback, but I love this car. I loved the scheme when Biffle ran it, so I'm a little biased again. I wonder if Biffle is recording me type this??

Worst

Brandon Brown King Autosports #90

This is the worst, for the same reason Cassil's Cup scheme stinks: this scheme is overdone.