Valvoline and Menards, co-primary sponsors on Paul Menard’s No. 27 Chevrolet, revealed their throwback paint scheme on Thursday for the September 4 race at Darlington Raceway.
Menard will honor his hero, Al Unser Jr., with a paint scheme that will mimic the one Unser used when he made his Sprint Cup Series debut in the 1993 Daytona 500 for Rick Hendrick. It highlight’s Valvoline’s synthetic oil with black, gray, and orange colors.
“I am a lifelong Unser fan, so for me, this paint scheme – and what it represents – means more than most fans might realize,” Menard said in a Valvoline release. “I’m ready to get out there and finish what he started.”
After crashing in his qualifying race, Unser made his first and only NASCAR start in a different Valvoline paint scheme when he was forced to a backup car. Richard Childress Racing will honor Unser in the Bojangles’ Southern 500 by running the original paint scheme.
“There are so many distinct strands of the racing world woven together in the context of this paint scheme,” said Valvoline vice present of marketing, Jamal Muashsher. “We look forward to watching Paul as he symbolically provides Little Al with another moment on the stock car stage.”
Unser is a two-time CART champion (1990, 1994) as well as a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner (1992, 1994).