For the eighth year, Darlington is set to host a “throwback” weekend that pays tribute to NASCAR’s past. As is customary for this special weekend at the track “Too Tough to Tame,” many drivers’ cars will carry a throwback paint scheme designed to mimic one from years past while the drivers and their team members will wear similarly fashioned clothing on pit road and in the garage.
Among the more interesting paint schemes this weekend will be the one on reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson’s Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, which will bear a striking resemblance to a car the late Tim Richmond raced for Hendrick Motorsports (then known as All-Star Racing) in 1984 in what is now known as the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Larson driving a car patterned after one that Richmond drove is appropriate considering that team owner Rick Hendrick said last season that Richmond is the driver who Larson most reminds him of. “He’ll put a car in places that you don’t think it’ll go, Hendrick said. “He just reminds me a lot of Tim.”
Other eye-catching paint schemes you’ll see this weekend include Brad Keselowski’s No. 6 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford styled after Mark Martin’s No. 6 car from 2004, Chris Buescher’s No. 17 RFKR Ford patterned after Matt Kenseth’s No. 17 car from that same year, and William Byron’s No. 24 Hendrick Chevy that is all but a mirror image of the No. 24 Hendrick Chevy that Jeff Gordon — now the organization’s vice chairman — raced in 2007.