NASCAR: 15 must-have throwback diecast cars from Darlington
By Asher Fair
You won’t want to miss the chance to get your hands on any of these 15 one-off diecast cars from NASCAR throwback weekend at Darlington Raceway.
The first of two trips to Darlington Raceway throughout the 2021 NASCAR season took place this past weekend, first with the Xfinity Series race on Saturday and then with the Cup Series race on Sunday.
Race weekend was throwback weekend at the four-turn, 1.366-mile (2.198-kilometer) egg-shaped oval in Darlington, South Carolina, and that resulted in some very unique one-off paint schemes for many of the cars that competed.
As you might expect, these special paint schemes have resulted in a mad dash of online diecast sales, so make sure to get your hands on these limited edition miniature cars before it’s too late.
Here are just 15 from Sunday’s Goodyear 400 Cup Series race that you don’t want to miss out on, and you can find plenty more where these came from at Fanatics.
Martin Truex Jr.
Martin Truex Jr. took the victory in dominant in Sunday’s Cup Series race in this throwback matte black car with an Auto Owners Insurance spin, his second at Darlington Raceway.
Corey LaJoie
Same number, same sponsor, same paint scheme. If there were a true “throwback” award for this past weekend, Corey LaJoie and Spire Motorsports would get it for how they honored Alan Kulwicki’s 1989-1990 Zerex Ford with precision on his #7 Chevrolet.
Kevin Harvick
Kevin Harvick’s first Cup Series start came after the death of Dale Earnhardt in the 2001 Daytona 500. He and the #4 team honored his first start at Rockingham Speedway with a paint scheme resembling the one he ran more than two decades ago following that accident.
Erik Jones
Erik Jones and the #43 Richard Petty Motorsports team honored the late John Andretti with a classic STP paint scheme, throwing it back to Andretti’s 1999 Pontiac when he won at Martinsville Speedway. This scheme won the “best in show” award, and for good reason.
Chase Elliott
Nearly three decades after Alan Kulwicki won the 1992 championship in his Hooters Ford, Hooters is still going strong in the NASCAR Cup Series, sponsoring the sport’s newest champion and most popular driver. They honored Kulwicki and his 1992 title run with this throwback on Elliott’s #9 Chevrolet.
Anthony Alfredo
Since we’ve already established the Alan Kulwicki theme, let’s keep it rolling with the #38 Front Row Motorsports Ford of rookie Anthony Alfredo. He and his team threw it back to Kulwicki’s 1985 Hardee’s Ford, which also carried the number 38.
Joey Logano
Joey Logano’s #22 Shell-sponsored Team Penske Ford from Sunday’s race was inspired by the Shell-sponsored Ferrari 312B of racing legend Mario Andretti from his first Formula 1 win in 1971 at Kyalami Circuit.
Ross Chastain
McDonald’s is another long-time sponsor in the NASCAR Cup Series, and Ross Chastain and Chip Ganassi Racing honored their commitment to the sport by throwing it back to Hut Stricklin’s McDonald’s Ford from 1993.
Michael McDowell
One driver threw it back to a Bill Elliott scheme this weekend, and it wasn’t his son Chase. But this throwback is quite fitting, as the newest winner of the Daytona 500, Michael McDowell, honored Elliott’s win from 1985 in a car themed after his race-winning Coors Ford.
Kyle Busch
When it comes to longtime NASCAR sponsors, you simply can’t ignore M&M’s, and Joe Gibbs Racing and Kyle Busch didn’t. To celebrate their 80th anniversary, the #18 Toyota ran with this special scheme in Sunday’s race.
Ryan Blaney
Ryan Blaney threw it back to…himself, from more than a decade ago. He ran this special #12 Team Penske Ford in Sunday’s race to honor his racing roots, as the paint scheme resembles that of his 2010 PASS series late model car.
Alex Bowman
Alex Bowman and the #48 Hendrick Motorsports team went about throwback weekend a little bit differently than most, and their spin on it produced this unique-looking Chevrolet. Bowman honored his own crew chief, Greg Ives, in Sunday’s race, driving a car themed after Ives’s super late model.
William Byron
Neil Bonnett would have turned 75 years old this year, so what better way to honor him than by running the paint scheme he ran on his #75 Pontiac in 1987 and 1988? Valvoline, still in the Cup Series more than three decades later, did just that on the #24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of William Byron. They had not previously served as Byron’s primary sponsor in a Cup Series event.
Kyle Larson
Kyle Larson threw it back to where it all began this past weekend in another throwback that was inspired by the driver of the car himself. His #5 Hendrick Motorsports was designed to resemble his first-ever go-kart.
Austin Dillon
Austin Dillon and the #3 Richard Childress Racing team threw it way back this weekend — more than six decades, in fact. His Chevrolet was designed to honor Fireball Roberts’s 1959 Pontiac, which also carried the number 3 before the number was truly made famous by Dale Earnhardt.
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