NASCAR: 4 all-time Darlington throwbacks we love
As NASCAR heads to Darlington Raceway for throwback weekend, check out some of our favorite throwback paint schemes from years past and present.
Darlington Raceway has always been one of NASCAR’s most well-known tracks. It is notorious for chewing up tires, its unique egg shape, and for its nicknames such as “The Lady in Black” and “The Track Too Tough to Tame”. But since 2015, teams and fans have associated the 1.366-mile oval with the official throwback weekend of NASCAR.
Drivers and teams celebrate the heritage of the sport by running paint schemes inspired by the past. Sponsors have even joined in and made it a collaborative effort with some teams.
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At FanSided, we are fans. Just like you, we associate these throwback paint schemes with memories from when those schemes took to the track years ago. As a celebration of throwback weekend, we’re going to take a look at some of our writers’ favorite Darlington Raceway throwbacks from 2022 and years past.
Asher Fair: Chase Briscoe’s 2022 throwback to Tony Stewart
There has never been a throwback paint scheme which holds quite the significance of the one Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe is set to run at Darlington Raceway this Sunday afternoon. And there’s a good chance there won’t be another one like it for quite some time, at least from the perspective of an individual whose racing fandom began with the Indianapolis 500.
Unlike most, the #14 Mahindra Tractors-sponsored Ford does not resemble a former Cup car. It resembles the open-wheel car that Stewart-Haas Racing co-owner Tony Stewart drove in the 2001 Indy 500. He finished in sixth place, and he went on to finish in third in the Coca-Cola 600, making him the first driver to run all 1,100 miles of the Memorial Day Double.
Only four drivers have ever attempted the Memorial Day Double, doing so a combined nine times. To this day, Stewart is the only one to go the distance. The last time a driver attempted to do so was in 2014, when Kurt Busch tried it, finishing in sixth place in the Indy 500 before being derailed by an engine failure in the Coca-Cola 600.
At the time, Busch drove for Stewart-Haas Racing. Could Briscoe, an Indiana native just like his childhood hero Stewart, eventually become number five?