NASCAR, an age-old sport running since 1948, has been turning the Darlington race weekend into a nostalgic journey with its Throwback Weekend since 2015. The event pays homage to the sport’s history with retro paint schemes reminiscent of the sport’s bygone eras.
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The celebration extends to vintage-style commentators in the booth and classic logos on the Goodyear tires. While Chase Briscoe from Joe Gibbs Racing relishes these festivities, Chase Elliott feels they’ve milked the theme dry.
Ahead of this weekend’s Darlington race, at the pre-race press conference, when asked whether the Throwback Weekend has lost its luster, Briscoe, the new #19 JGR driver, disagreed.
“I don’t think so, I mean, there’s less paint schemes as this week than normal. But if you look at the Xfinity Series, there’s probably more than ever,” he stated. He emphasized that the enthusiasm for the weekend remains strong among participants.
Maintaining excitement for any recurring event can be challenging; after a while, even the most thrilling activities might not sparkle as they once did. The Throwback Weekend at Darlington was specifically designed to inject novelty and enthusiasm into the event year after year. However, there comes a point when fresh ideas begin to thin out.
Nevertheless, Briscoe remains an advocate for the event’s charm. “For me, it’s something that I love about this weekend. Every time you come here, there’s that old-school feel, but then when you walk in the garage, you see paint schemes and stuff. It’s a cool part of the whole weekend.”
“Yeah, I don’t have a throwback scheme this weekend. This is the first time I’ve never ran one, but I don’t feel like this weekend has lost its luster,” he affirmed.
On the other hand, NASCAR’s ‘Most Popular Driver’ and the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion, Chase Elliott, who is showcasing a paint scheme in homage to Kenny Schrader’s 1994 HMS Chevrolet, with his entire team on board this year, feels that NASCAR may have overplayed the Throwback Weekend theme.
He expressed, “At some point, I think we’ve got to chill on it a little bit. I think we’ve rode the horse to death, and we tend to do that a little bit too much.” The #9 HMS driver humorously added that if this trend continues, NASCAR is going to be throwing it back to his own races in 2018.
Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin pointed out that the underlying business model of NASCAR, being heavily reliant on sponsorship, is a key factor in the reduced number of throwback liveries seen this season. He explained that there’s resistance from sponsors who prefer not to alter their established branding color themes, contributing to the dwindling number of retro paint schemes across the lineup.
