It’s t-minus 10 days until NASCAR’s official Throwback Weekend at Darlington Raceway begins, and the deluge has finally occurred.
In years past, announcements about which vintage paint schemes we’d see at “The Lady in Black” would start coming as early as March, with some even happening at the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
But this season, the opening months were almost barren with nostalgia-based unveilings.
The major exceptions: Josh Berry‘s tribute to Rodney Childers, Chase Elliott donning Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s 2014-Daytona-500-winning look and Kyle Larson‘s exquisite “all but the sponsorship” ode to Terry “Ice Man” Labonte.
Seriously, how did it take until Year 10 of Throwback Weekend to get the definitive Labonte colors?
The green really pops.
But after weeks of relatively radio silence from, throwback paint schemes were everywhere Tuesday (April 30).
You have Alex Bowman throwing back to Jimmie Johnson‘s heyday for *counts* the second time? (Including when all of Hendrick Motorsports did it for Johnson’s farewell season in 2020).
Even I have to admit, the Hendrick yellow on the No. 48 is easy on the eyes.
Corey LaJoie is throwing back to his ARCA Menards Series East win at Bowman Gray Stadium.
RFK Racing trotted out its latest Castrol throwback.
On Monday (April 29), they teased fans with three options by making it seem like they had a say in the choice between a John Force scheme, a 1990s sports car paint job and Casey Atwood‘s 1999-2000 NASCAR Xfinity Series scheme (the last and only Castrol scheme win in NASCAR until Chris Buescher did it in 2023 at Michigan).
But apparently it was really just Brad Keselowski‘s choice.
Yes, it’s a good-looking car.
However, I’m having trouble mustering up enthusiasm for it.
Mostly because of timing.
This month was the most relevant Atwood has been in the NASCAR hemisphere in decades.
Atwood was the once-heralded Xfinity Series talent who won twice in 1999 and then jumped to the NASCAR Cup Series in 2001 to race for Ray Evernham’s Dodge team. It didn’t last, and he was out of a full-time ride after two seasons.
He last raced in the Xfinity Series for 20 races in 2009.
ESPN’s Marty Smith wrote a feature on him in 2014 titled, “Hindsight haunts Casey Atwood.”
And just last week, the now 43-year-old Atwood was the guest of honor on the Dale Jr. Download.