CONCORD, N.C. -- One of the most famous paint schemes in NASCAR history will ride again in the Sept. 2 Southern 500.
The rainbow paint scheme Jeff Gordon drove for the first eight years of his Cup career will be resurrected for William Byron and the No. 24 Chevrolet.
The scheme was announced Friday at Charlotte Motor Speedway in a presentation with Gordon, Byron and artist Sam Bass, who designed the scheme that debuted in the 1992 season finale at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The race was Gordon’s series debut.
Gordon drove the scheme full-time from 1993-2000 when he was sponsored by Du Pont. He drove it one last time in the 2015 Bristol night race during his final full-time season.
The scheme was used by Dylan Lupton in last year’s Xfinity Series race at Darlington.
Gordon, now an analyst for Fox Sports, never dreamed his paint scheme would be used in a throwback fashion decades later.
“I was just a young kid that was anxious to get out there and show what I could and excited about the opportunity to be at Hendrick Motorsports and hoped that I would be able to do my part and go on and win a race, let alone 93 of them,” Gordon said. “I certainly never looked far enough ahead that I would have ever thought we were creating something that would be part of NASCAR history or a throwback to the history at Darlington with a 20-year-old kid behind the wheel that wasn’t me.”
The four-time champion is a nominee for the 2019 NASCAR Hall of Fame Class. The class will be announced Wednesday.
Byron, 20, is in his rookie season with Hendrick Motorsports and will compete in his first Southern 500.
“Jeff’s got a huge history in the sport and to follow that and be able to carry his legacy and hopefully have success with it is my goal,” Byron said.
Byron is 19th in the point standings through 12 races.
Bass told the story of how he came to get the job of designing Gordon’s car in 1992.
"(Jeff Gordon’s crew chief) Ray Evernham came over to my shop looking for a birthday present for Jeff,” Bass recalled. “He picked up a print, he was getting ready to leave and wanted to pay me for it. I said, ‘No, I don’t want your money. I want you to give me a shot to design the race car for Jeff Gordon.’ I didn’t really think he would do it, but he called me back in a couple of weeks and said, ‘Hey, you got a shot.’ I worked on three designs and had two of them done the day it was due. On the way driving to work, I kept thinking in my mind Du Pont had said they wanted a rainbow of color. They wanted to car to show that they could produce a rainbow of colors.
“I went back to the shop and started working on something, and I knew when I got it done that if they would paint it that way it would definitely be different. I thought the guys in the body shop were gonna kill me when they saw it because they knew how difficult it was going to be to paint. To their credit, they did it and they were so proud of it.”
Here’s a look at the Rainbow Warrior for 2018! pic.twitter.com/KP4dbsRxdN
— Axalta Racing (@AxaltaRacing) May 18, 2018