When it comes to Darlington Raceway’s annual Throwback Weekend – entering its 10th year this weekend – fans love it, sponsors love it, and former drivers love it. Current drivers, though? Some do and some don’t.
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2020 NASCAR Cup champ Chase Elliott caused quite a bit of controversy Saturday morning during a media availability session when he was asked his opinion on the value of the Throwback Weekend.
“I thought it lost it’s (luster) about 4-5 years ago,” Elliott said. “Not to be a downer, and I joked about this years ago, if we kept going down that road, we were going to throw it back to me in 2018. At some point, we have to chill on it a little bit. I think we’ve rode the horse to death and tend to do that a little too much.”
Ironically, Elliott’s car in Sunday’s race will have a paint scheme that honors Ken Schrader’s 1994 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Team Penske driver Joey Logano, who will be driving a car with a paint scheme honoring three-time Cup champ Cale Yarborough, may be more of a student of the significance of NASCAR history than Elliott.
Logano said he’s all in favor of maintaining the Throwback Weekend tradition and hopes it doesn’t end anytime soon. “I hope that doesn’t happen, I really do,” Logano said in an interview with FrontStretch.com. “The Throwback Weekend is a way for us to honor the pioneers of our sport. It’s not about it being cool or not.”
“Is it cool? I think so, but to me, it’s talking about the pioneers of our sport that we would not talk about any other way. Like, were we going to talk about Cale Yarborough much this weekend? I mean, this is his home track, maybe it would have come up a couple times, but not that much.”
“But the fact we’re running his car, it’s come up a lot. You honor the guys that built the sport for you, for us, all of us. It’s important for us to remember that because so many times in sports, so quickly when a driver or athlete retires, they ride off into the sunset and get forgotten about quickly.”
“But the Throwback Weekend is what really brings that back to life. I know those guys think it’s cool to see their car back on the racetrack. There’s no doubt to see the paint scheme that’s cool, but for the young fan, it’s even more important,” elaborated the three-time champion.
Brad Keselowski Adds His Two Cents
Logano got some backup in his opinion from former Penske Racing teammate Brad Keselowski, now driver and co-owner of RFK Racing. Keselowski wrote on X/Twitter:
“I went to the merchandise hauler just now where it hit me. Seeing the fans all dressed up in older gear reminded me Throwback weekend is much bigger than paint schemes.”
“This weekend connects new and old fans to our sport’s history in multiple meaningful ways for everyone to enjoy. I understand the frustrations of trying to execute a great scheme, but also think we should be careful to not dismiss the fans that absolutely love this race.”
It now remains to be seen who makes the most of their day during the race itself as the green flag drops at 3:00 pm ET.
