NASCAR’s spring weekend at Darlington Raceway is one of the most special weekends for fans and teams alike. The Goodyear 400 is a must-see race for any motorsport fan, especially because of the racing and the special schemes that celebrate various pieces of NASCAR history.
Darlington (almost) Domination
Polesitter William Byron dominated the early stages of the race, leading the first 243 laps at the Track Too Tough to Tame. However, a slow pit stop with 50 laps to go allowed Tyler Reddick, one of the drivers for Michael Jordan’s NASCAR team, to take the lead from Byron at the end of the cycle. Reddick had pitted four laps prior to Byron, and the fresh rubber, along with Byron’s slow stop, allowed him to make up 11 seconds on the Hendrick Motorsports driver.
However, tire wear caught up to Reddick. Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, who pitted 6 laps later than Reddick and thus had tires in better condition, passed the 23XI driver going through Turns 1 and 2 a mere four laps from the finish. Reddick then brushed the outside wall on the exit of Turn 2, causing Kyle Larson to check up to avoid a potential crash. Reddick’s teammate Bubba Wallace subsequently ran into the back Larson, sending him into the inside wall for the second time and bringing out the caution.
The caution meant that all drivers came to pit road for fresh rubber, and Denny Hamlin was first off of pit road having entered in 3rd place. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver chose the outside lane for the overtime restart and muscled his way to the lead off of Turn 2. He would hold that lead and take his 5th win at Darlington Raceway by just under three-quarters of a second.
Given that this was a throwback weekend, here are some of the best throwback-themed liveries of the weekend.
The best throwback livery of the weekend had to be that of Josh Berry and the Wood Brothers. The scheme honored the 60 year anniversary of Jim Clark’s 1965 Indianapolis 500 triumph. For that race, Colin Chapman, head of Team Lotus, invited the Wood Brothers to perform the pit stops for his team. Clark would dominate the race, winning by almost two minutes from Parnelli Jones and rookie Mario Andretti. Clark was also a two-time Formula One champion, winning the title in 1963 and 1965 before his untimely death in a Formula 2 race in Germany in 1968.
Another solid scheme came from the Legacy Motor Club, owned by seven-time NASCAR champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer Jimmie Johnson. This scheme is a throwback to John Andretti’s 1998 livery, sporting the unmistakable Petty blue and STP red. Andretti’s highest finish that season was a third place at both Sonoma Raceway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway. John would claim his second and final NASCAR victory at Martinsville in 1999 before making sporadic appearances in the Cup Series for another decade. He ran 34 races with Front Row Motorsports in 2009 before retiring after the 2010 Daytona 500.
One of the most iconic throwbacks came from the Team Penske camp. Austin Cindric, who currently drives the #2 car, honored Dale Earnhardt’s 1979-1980 livery, sponsored originally by Mike Curb. Earnhardt would win the first of his seven NASCAR championships in 1980. Dale would run a similar blue-and-yellow Wrangler-sponsored scheme between 1981 and 1987, eventually becoming “The Man in Black” in 1988 with his black GM Goodwrench-sponsored Chevy Monte Carlo.
The last scheme on this list belongs to Joey Logano, also driving for Team Penske. His livery honors three-time NASCAR champion Cale Yarborough, who grew up in Timmonsville, South Carolina, only about 20 minutes from Darlington Raceway. This scheme’s inspiration dates back to Yarborough’s Holly Farms livery from 1976, the first of his three consecutive NASCAR championships. Yarborough won 83 races in his 30+ year career, tied for sixth-most all-time with Jimmie Johnson.
