Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Retro Rundown 2017: Southern 500 throwback paint schemes

0fMx6gUbaXbb
Rutledge Wood quizzes some of NASCAR's biggest stars about Rubik's Cubes, Madonna and Richard Petty ahead in the spirit of Darlington's throwback weekend.

It’s finally here!

NASCAR’s throwback week is capped off by tonight’s Southern 500 on NBCSN.

That means what was once old is new again and that goes with the latest parade of retro paint schemes.

Here’s your guide to all the paint schemes that will be driven in the Southern 500.

Jamie McMurray - The No. 1 Chevrolet will be modeled after the No. 1 car David Pearson won his final Cup race withat Darlington in 1980.

Brad Keselowski - Keselowski will pilot the “Midnight” paint scheme Rusty Wallace made famous in the mid-90s during his time in Team Penske’s No. 2 car. This isn’t the first time Keselowski has driven this look. It was on his No. 2 Ford in August 2015 at Michigan.

keselowski darlington throwback scheme

Brad Keselowski will pay tribute to NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace with this former Wallace paint scheme in this weekend’s throwback weekend at Darlington Raceway.

Austin Dillon - This year marks the 30th anniversary of Dale Earnhardt’s 1987 win in the Southern 500. Richard Childress Racing is honoring that achievement by putting Earnhardt’s Wrangler paint scheme from that year on Austin Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet and Ryan Newman’s No. 31 Chevrolet.

Austin Dillon

Kevin Harvick - The No. 4 Busch Chevrolet will have a paint scheme that is based on the “Head for the Mountains” commercials from the 1980s. Harvick won the 2014 Southern 500.

Harvick

Kasey Kahne - Kahne’s No. 5 Chevrolet will pay tribute to Geoffrey Bodine, the first driver to win for Hendrick Motorsports in the Cup Series. The paint scheme is the same one Bodine had on the No. 5 in 1985 when it was sponsored by Levi Garrett.

Kahne

Trevor Bayne - The No. 6 Ford will resemble the car Mark Martin drove when the No. 6 was sponsored by Stroh Light from 1988-89. Darrell Wallace Jr. drove the paint scheme in the 2016 Xfinity race at Darlington.

Trevor Bayne Darlington Throwback Scheme

Walter Arce Sr

Danica Patrick - The No. 10 Ford will have the paint scheme that Dale Jarrett used in his 1999 Cup Series championship year when he drove for Robert Yates Racing. Patrick also will be sponsored by Ford Credit, which was a sponsor on Jarrett’s No. 88 Ford that season.

IMG_5123

Denny Hamlin - The Joe Gibbs Racing driver will pay tribute to famed modified driver Ray Hendrick (no relation to Rick Hendrick). “Mr. Modified” was named one of the 50 greatest NASCAR drivers in 1998.

Denny Hamlin

Ty Dillon - Germain Racing’s No. 13 Chevrolet looks similar to the way it did in last season’s Southern 500. The car will yet again have a paint scheme that Smokey Yunick once used on the No. 13 car he owned in the 1960s.

Ty Dillon

Clint Bowyer - Bowyer’s No. 14 Ford will have the sponsor and paint scheme that NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin drove in the Xfinity Series from 1988-1991. All three of the Southern 500 Throwback Weekends have featured Martin paint schemes.

BowyerThrowback

Reed Sorenson - His car honors car owner Bud Moore, who was inducted with the 2011 class into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Brett Bodine originally raced this paint scheme in 1989.

DarlingtonReedSorenson

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. - The Roush Fenway Racing driver will once again pay tribute to former No. 17 driver Darrell Waltrip. Stenhouse’s paint scheme is modeled after the one Waltrip drove in the 1997 season.

Stenhouse

Matt Kenseth - The scheme for the No. 20 is loosely based on the one Kenseth had when he won his first Xfinity Series race in February 1998 at Rockingham.

image1 (1)

Ryan Blaney - The Wood Brothers Racing car will have the same look as it did in 1987 when Kyle Petty drove for the team. That year Petty won the Coca-Cola 600 for one of his eight Cup victories.

Ryan Blaney

Joey Logano - The No. 22 Ford will bear the paint scheme used by Jimmy Vasser in IndyCar in 2002, the year Shell and Pennzoil merged.

Logano

Corey LaJoie - The No. 23 Toyota will pay tribute to Davey Allison. LaJoie’s paint scheme will be the one used by Allison in 1984 when he drove a No. 23 Miller High Life Pontiac in the Busch Series (now Xfinity Series).

Corey Lajoie

Chase Elliott - The Hendrick Motorsports’ driver will drive the light blue paint scheme his father Bill Elliott had in his first Cup start on Feb. 29, 1976 at Rockingham Speedway.

Chase Elliott

Ryan Newman - Like Austin Dillon, Newman’s No. 31 Chevrolet will evoke Dale Earnhardt’s 1987 Wrangler paint scheme.

Ryan Newman

Matt DiBenedetto - The Go Fas Racing driver will have the scheme used by Bobby Allison in 1988 when he won the Daytona 500 for his 84th and final NASCAR Cup Series victory.

DiBenedetto

Jeffrey Earnhardt - The grandson of Dale Earnhardt Sr. will drive a Lowes Food paint scheme “The Intimidator” used in the Xfinity Series in 1989.

JeffreyEarnhardtThrowback

Landon Cassill - The Front Row Motorsports Ford will have the same paint scheme it used last year. It’s based on the look of Love’s Travel Stops’ first store, opened in Amarillo, Texas, in 1981.

Cassill

Chris Buescher - The No. 37 Chevrolet will resemble the No. 37 driven by Patty Moise in the Xfinity Series in 1988.

Buescher

David Ragan - The No. 38 Ford will have a paint scheme based on the 1960s look of sponsor Good Sam.

David Ragan

Kyle Larson - The Chip Ganassi Racing driver will pay tribute to team co-owner Felix Sabates and NBCSN analyst Kyle Petty with a paint scheme based on their 1995 Coors Light car. Petty drove for Sabates’ Team SABCO.

Larson

Aric Almirola - Four months after Almirola was born in March 1984, Richard Petty won his 200th and final Cup race in the July 4 Firecracker 400 at Daytona. Almirola will sport the same paint scheme “The King” took to victory lane that day.

Almirola

AJ Allmendinger - The JTG Daugherty Racing driver will have the paint scheme Terry Labonte drove in 1986 when his No. 44 car was sponsored by Piedmont Airlines.

Allmendinger

Jimmie Johnson - The paint scheme for the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet is inspired by the trucks Lowe’s used in 1986.

Jimmie Johnson

Cody Ware - He and Rick Ware Racing will use this weekend’s car to offer prayers to those in Texas impacted by Hurricane Harvey. The car also resembles the Mello Yello paint scheme Kyle Petty once drove.

RickWareRacing

Derrike Cope - The 1990 Daytona 500 winner will have his own throwback for the Southern 500. Cope will have his paint scheme and sponsor from the 1994 Cup season when he drove the Mane ‘n Tail No. 12 car for Bobby Allison Motorsports.

Dcope 3

Cole Whitt - The TriStar Motorsports driver will have a paint scheme that his grandfather, Jim Whitt, nicknamed “Gentleman Jim Whitt,” had when he won the Cajon Speedway Track Championship in a No. 60 car known as the “Lime Green Machine.”

Whitt

Erik Jones - The Furniture Row Racing rookie will have a special paint scheme that pays tribute to the Cup Rookie of the Year award winners from 1984-89.

78SC16_FRR_Carbon_2D_Layout_V3

Martin Truex Jr. - The Furniture Row Racing car will celebrate the 40th anniversary of Bass Pro Shops’ TRACKER Boat line.

Truex

Dale Earnhardt Jr. - In his final Southern 500 start, Earnhardt’s No. 88 Chevrolet will bear the paint scheme Earnhardt used during his two championship seasons in the Xfinity Series in 1998-99. Earnhardt drove the No. 3 AC Delco car for Dale Earnhardt Inc., winning 13 races over the course of the two seasons.

Dale Jr

Michael McDowell - The No. 95 Chevrolet, owned by Leavine Family Racing, will bear the paint scheme 1992 Cup champion Alan Kulwicki drove in his Rookie of the Year season in 1986. LFR operates out of the same shop Kulwicki did until his death in a 1993 plane crash.

McDowell

Other Throwback Weekend paint schemes:

Elliott Sadler (Xfinity Series) - Sadler will drive a tribute to Cale Yarborough and his Hardee’s paint scheme.

Sadler

Michael Annett - The JR Motorsports driver will have a paint scheme used by Brad Doty in the World of Outlaws sprint car series in the 1980s.

Annett

Justin Allgaier - The JR Motorsports veteran will have a paint scheme based on the Mom ‘n’ Pops scheme that Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kelley Earnhardt Miller and Kerry Earnhardt used when they competed in late models.

Allgaier

William Byron - The JR Motorsports rookie will pay tribute to the late Ricky Hendrick, the son of Rick Hendrick, with a paint scheme inspired by the one he drove to his only Truck Series win in 2001.

William Byron

Blake Koch - The Kaulig Racing driver will again drive an old Darrell Waltrip paint scheme. Koch’s No. 11 Chevrolet is inspired by Waltrip’s 1985 Budweiser scheme that he won that season’s Cup title in.

blake koch darlington throwback weekend

J.J. Yeley - The No. 14 car will be based on an old A.J. Foyt car that the four-time Indy 500 winner raced in NASCAR.

Yeley

Ryan Reed - The Roush Fenway Racing driver will have the Zerex paint scheme Alan Kulwicki drove in 1989.

Ryan Reed

Daniel Hemric - The Richard Childress Racing driver will have the paint scheme that Jeff Green drove in 2002 when he competed for RCR.

Hemric

Dakoda Armstrong - The JGL Racing driver has a more faithful tribute to Cale Yarborough’s Hardee’s paint scheme.

_28 Yarborough Darlington throwback Toyota Camry layout-2

Ryan Sieg - The RSS racing drive will pay tribute to his brother, Shane Sieg, who died two weeks ago at the age of 34. The paint scheme was used by Shane Sieg in late model racing.

Sieg

Kevin Harvick - Harvick will drive the original Hunt Brothers Pizza paint scheme that was first used in 2008 by Ken Schrader.

Harvick

Matt Tifft - The Joe Gibbs Racing driver will honor Dale Earnhardt Sr., driving the paint scheme Earnhardt used in one race in 1977 when he drove the No. 19 car at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Matt Tifft throwback

Erik Jones - Jones will pay tribute to Davey Allison with his 1988 rookie paint scheme.

Erik Jones

Jeremy Clements - The No. 51 car will pay tribute to A.J. Foyt and his 1964 win in the Firecracker 400 at Daytona. Clements’ grandfather, Crawford, served as Foyt’s crew chief for the race.

Jeremy Clements

Dylan Lupton - The JGL Racing driver will pilot the “Rainbow Warrior” paint scheme of his childhood idol, Jeff Gordon.

Lupton

Spencer Gallagher - The GMS Racing driver will have Michael Waltrip’s Cup rookie paint scheme from 1986.

Gallagher Darlington scheme

Cole Custer - The Stewart-Haas Racing driver will pay tribute to two-time Xfinity Series champion Sam Ard.

Cole Custer

Brendan Gaughan - An eight-time winner in the Camping World Truck Series, Gaughan will be sponsored by NAPA and feature the paint scheme he had for his first two Truck wins at Texas Motor Speedway in 2002.

Gaughan

Brandon Brown - The No. 90 Chevrolet will pay tribute to the late Dick Trickle, who made 303 Cup starts from 1970-2002. The scheme is based on Trickle’s Heilig-Meyer’s car.

Brandon Brown

Brad Keselowski Racing (Camping World Truck Series) - The two trucks owned by BKR, the No. 19 driven by Austin Cindric and the No. 29 of Chase Briscoe, will have paint schemes dedicated to the Keselowski family’s racing history for the Sept. 3 race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Austin Cindric - The purple and white paint scheme was used on cars driven by Keselowski’s uncle, Ron Keselowski, in both USAC and the NASCAR Cup Series. From 1970-74, he earned 11 top-10 finishes in 68 starts as a driver, including a pair of fifth-place finishes in back-to-back seasons at Michigan International Speedway.

Keselowski 2

Chase Briscoe - The No. 29 truck will bear the paint scheme driven by Brad Keselowski’s father, Bob, to victory lane in 1997 at Richmond. It was his only win in 86 Truck series starts.

Keselowski 1

John Hunter Nemechek - The son of Joe Nemechek will have the BellSouth paint scheme “Front Row Joe” had in the Cup series in 1999 when he won his first of four Cup races.

Nemechek

Follow @DanielMcFadin and on Facebook.