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| NBC with its own throwback logo to commemorate this weekend's Throwback Weekend at Darlington. |
Ever since the Southern 500 returned to its traditional Labor Day Weekend race date in 2015, the world of NASCAR has celebrated the event as a "throwback" race with almost all of the drivers have paint schemes from the past on their cars for the race.
This year is no exception all but a handful of drivers will use the event to run throwback paint schemes from drivers of the past or paint schemes they used earlier in their career.
Here now is a complete list of the drivers that will be driving throwback paint schemes and the drivers or other people they will be paying tribute(the list is numerical order of the cars in the field).
#00-Cole Custer
Custer will be driving an almost carbon copy of the paint scheme used by Sterling Marlin's "Silver Bullet" car he drove from 2001-2005 to four of his 10 career victories.
#1-Kurt Busch
Busch's paint scheme won't be paying tribute to a former NASCAR driver, but instead to his manufacturer, Chevrolet, with this paint scheme from an orange 1969 Camaro.
#2-Brad Keselowski
For the third year in a row, Keselowski will be driving a paint scheme that was driven by Rusty Wallace with this year's scheme matching the one Rusty drove in the 1996 season to five victories.
#3-Austin Dillon
For the first time since Dale Earnhardt died in the 2001 Daytona 500, there will be a black #3 car on the track during a Monster Energy Cup series race. But it will not be the famous silver and black Goodwrench scheme used by Earnhardt, but instead a scheme used by car owner Richard Childress that he used in the late 1970s. Childress' grandson, Austin Dillon, will drive the car for this year's race.
#6-Ryan Newman
With the exceptions of the colors and the sponsor(Oscar Mayer), Newman's paint scheme will be identical to the one driven by Mark Martin from 1992-95, to which Martin won 13 races including the 1993 Southern 500.
#8-Daniel Hemric
Hemric's paint scheme will not throw back to a driver, but instead to his sponsor, the Caterpillar manufacturing company, and its logo from 1925-31.
#9-Chase Elliott
Elliott will honor his Hall of Fame father, Bill, with this paint scheme that his dad had on his car when he won his first career pole in 1981, which came at Darlington, but not in the Southern 500(Darlington had two races from 1960-2004).
#10-Aric Almirola
Stewart-Haas Racing will have three of its four drivers use paint schemes from each of co-owner Tony Stewart's three Cup championships with Almirola using the paint scheme from Stewart's 1st title in 2002.
#11-Denny Hamlin
Hamlin will pay tribute to recently retired Fox broadcaster Darrell Waltrip, with this paint scheme that is very similar to the Western Auto paint scheme that DW used when he drove for his own team from 1991-97.
#12-Ryan Blaney
Waltrip's younger brother, Michael, will also get a throwback paint scheme as Blaney will be driving a car with the all-yellow Pennzoil paint scheme that Waltrip used from 1991-95.
#14-Clint Bowyer
Like Almirola, Bowyer will honor his car owner, Tony Stewart, with a paint scheme from one of Stewart's three Cup championship seasons, driving the primary paint scheme from Stewart's third championship in 2011 where he won five of the final 10 races to win the title.
#18-Kyle Busch
Busch's paint scheme will pay homage to Bobby Hillin Jr, who drove with Snickers as his sponsor for the 1990 season.
#19-Martin Truex Jr.
Truex's paint scheme will be one that he used while drive for Dale Earnhardt Jr. to back-to-back Xfinity series championships in 2004 + 05.
#20-Erik Jones
Jones will driving a paint scheme from his past as he be will using a paint scheme from his rookie season in the Late Model Series back in 2010 when Jones was just 13 years old.
#21-Paul Menard
The famous Wood Brothers team will pay tribute to one of their co-founders, Glen Wood, who died earlier this year with this paint scheme that he used in the 1957 Southern 500, with Menard behind the wheel for this Sunday's race.
#22-Joey Logano
In an ironic twist, Logano will be driving a paint scheme that Kevin Harvick used in 2010 when the two had an on-the-track incident that almost led to a fight in the pits after a race in Pocono to which Logano famously said that Harvick's wife "must wear the firesuit in the family".
Harvick did have his paint scheme on his car when he won the 2007 Daytona 500 in the second closest finish in Daytona 500 history.
#24-William Byron
Byron will going to the silver screen for his throwback paint scheme as he will be driving the famous City Chevrolet that Tom Cruise's character drove in the 1990 movie "Days of Thunder".
#32-Corey LaJoie
NBC broadcaster Dale Jarrett's favorite paint scheme will be the one used by LaJoie which is identical to the one Jarrett drove in the Xfinity Series in 1990 + 1991.
#34-Michael McDowell
McDowell will pay tribute to Jimmy Means, who drove on the Cup circuit for 18 seasons, many of these with a powder blue Alka Seltzer paint scheme during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
#36-Matt Tifft
Tifft's paint scheme won't be a throwback to NASCAR, but instead to dirt track racer David Hilliker, who drove for Tifft's father on the dirt tracks in Michigan to which Hilliker drove to a spot in the Michigan Motorsports Hall of Fame.
#38-David Ragan
Ragan will honor the "Silver Fox" David Pearson with a paint scheme that is closely resembles the one Pearson drove during his third and final championship season in 1969 which he won 11 races and claimed 14 poles.
#41-Daniel Suarez
The third and final paint scheme used by Stewart-Haas racing will be driven by Daniel Suarez, whose car will have the paint scheme from Stewart's 2005 championship season.
#42-Kyle Larson
Larson will driving a paint scheme that closely resembles Ricky Craven's Kodiak Chevrolet that he drove in 1995 + 96.
#43-Darrell Wallace Jr.
To celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Victory Junction Gang Camp, a camp that welcomes children with deliberating diseases, Wallace will be using the same paint scheme that Adam Petty, Richard Petty's grandson and Kyle Petty's son, drove to a win in the ARCA series at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1998.
#47-Ryan Preece
Preece will have a paint scheme on his car very similar to the Hawaiian Punch paint scheme driven by Ron Bouchard in the 1984 season, who drove for Preece's grandfather, Bob Judkins.
#48-Jimmie Johnson
The seven-time Cup champion will be using a paint scheme from his off-road driving past as his paint scheme will be similar to his Chevrolet Thunder Trophy Truck from 1995.
#51-B.J. McLeod
Like Byron, McLeod will be using a paint scheme from the movies as he will be driving a paint scheme similar to the one used by Burt Reynolds in the 1983 movie "Stroker Ace".
#52-J.J. Yeley
Yeley's throwback paint scheme will be really old school as it is similar to the one Bill Blair had on his Oldsmobile to which he drove to a victory at Daytona Beach in 1953. And when I say Daytona Beach, I mean literally on the beach.
#54-Garrett Smithley
Smithley will be using a rather obscure paint scheme as he will pay tribute to 1973 Rookie of the Year Lennie Pone and his #54 Pepsi car from that season.
#77-Reed Sorenson
Sorenson's paint scheme will pay tribute to the Motor Racing Network, which has been the primary radio network for NASCAR races ever since the 1970 Daytona 500.
#88-Alex Bowman
Bowman will be using a paint scheme almost identical to the Folgers paint scheme that Tim Richmond used when he drove for Hendrick Motorsports to seven wins in 1986.
#95-Matt DiBenedentto
DiBendentto's throwback paint scheme will be not one from NASCAR, but instead one from the IMSA GT series, a road racing series from 1971-98, with DiBendentto's paint scheme nearly identical to the one the Toyota manufacturer used for its team in the series during the 1980s.
