There are two trains of thought when it comes to how the NASCAR community feels about throwback weekend at Darlington Speedway
- It’s time to retire the concept
- This is for those who enjoy it
For example, Chase Elliott is about five years into feeling as though a concept that began with the 2015 Southern 500 has passed its ‘best buy date’ and articulated it in a humorous way on Saturday.
“Not to be a downer (and) I joked about this years ago but if we kept going down the road, we’re going to be throwing it back to me in 2018,” Elliott said. “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.”
His teammate at Hendrick Motorsports, William Byron, certainly could throw back to 2018 Elliott since he now drives the No. 24 that the 2020 champion drove in his first two seasons at the highest level.
Byron agrees with Elliott, too.
“It’s definitely run its course, I feel like,” Byron said. “We’ve had so many of them that it’s hard to … between 40 cars … you’ve covered most of the paint schemes by a certain point
“Maybe you bring it back every few years or take it to a different race track. I know other leagues — like baseball, hockey and football — they have some kind of throwback time period but it changes around a little bit so maybe it’s just a little bit repetitive now.”
Making the concept more complicated these days, beyond having done it for a decade now, is that the seventh-generation car and its forward slanted numbers make it challenging to authentically throw back to anything.
The Xfinity Series has done a much better job of accurately portraying classic paint schemes in recent years but as several Cup Series mainstays point out, there are business reasons for that too.
Brad Keselowski, who co-owns RFK Racing and drives its No. 6 Ford Mustang says the cost to sponsor a Cup Series car is so high, and there are so few season long sponsors, that partners do not want to waste one of their rare car opportunities on something that isn’t their current branding.
“We have global brands on our cars and they have global initiatives and things that are going on and they want to make sure they hit those, so with limited windows to do that it doesn’t always work out,” Keselowski said.
Denny Hamlin drives for Joe Gibbs Racing but also co-owns 23XI Racing and made that same argument as well.
“Truthfully, these guys are trying to find a reason to get a return on their investment,” Hamlin said. “So, when you kind of change their logo or maybe change their colors and stuff, it doesn’t really line up with what they want.
“It’s just a sponsor-driven sport. I mean, I’m watching the Xfinity Series cars and I’m like, ‘they’re awesome’ because they don’t have this many sponsors, they can kind of do whatever they want to do. It’s cool to see from their standpoint, but yeah on the Cup side it’s going to be really tough going forward.”
To that point, Chase Briscoe says the Xfinity Series is carrying the banner for the concept and that racing at Darlington is also throwback in nature so it still feels meaningful to him.
“If you look at the Xfinity Series, there’s probably more than ever,” Briscoe said. “I still think you know there’s a ton of buy-in still. I think it’s hard with anything. Anytime you do something for a long time, not like I think it loses its luster, but it’s not as exciting as the first time or the second time.
“I think we’re trying to find ways to keep it exciting, you know, but it’s hard right? You run out of things to change after you do it for a while. 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 seal paint schemes and stuff. It’s a cool part of the whole weekend.”
Kyle Busch doesn’t have to wonder what it would be like to have a throwback to his 2018 season because Joe Gibbs Racing actually did it in the Xfinity Series with William Sawalich.
“Well, it took 10 years for someone to do a Kyle Busch one so thanks to William and the team on the Xfinity side,” Busch said. “It’s pretty cool to finally have one.”
And Busch also said that it doesn’t matter how drivers feel because if enough fans see value in the weekend, that’s all that matters.
“When I look at fan reception, I feel like the fans really love it and even if some of the drivers think it’s overblown, it’s not for us,” Busch said. “It’s for the people in the grandstands and their pure joy in seeing some of the older schemes kind of come back to life in this day and age. If they’re all for it … and I hear it all the time, in 10 years, I might have had two or three throwbacks and trust me, I hear it all the time, that I don’t do throwbacks, and trust me, that’s not on me. That’s just the partners that I’m with.”
Briscoe made the exact same point, too.
“Yeah, I don’t have a throwback scheme this weekend,” Briscoe said. “This is the first time I’ve never ran one, but I don’t feel like this weekend has lost its luster. I think the fans still love the paint schemes that are here, and just anytime you come to Darlington, it’s kind of got an old school throwback feel whether we’re (at) a throwback weekend or not.”
