It's that time of year again kids! Time for me to come out of my hidey hole and make fun of throwback paint schemes.
1- Ross Chastain: The Wicked Witch of the South strikes again. TrackHouse had to put that little slash in the number out of fear that they'd get sued by "She who shall not be named".
Final Score: 10/10
2- Austin Cindric: The colors are wrong! It looks more like a Menard's throwback than a Kodak throwback. I'm not mad, just disappointed.
Final Score: 6/10
4- Kevin Harvick: Random choice, and pretty inaccurate, but at least it supports a good cause.
Final Score: 6/10
5- Kyle Larson: A bit plain for my tastes, but it being a throwback to Tim Richmond gives this thing extra points.
Final Score: 7/10
6- Brad Keselowski: Don't worry folks, they fixed the number. Mark Martin had some of best paint schemes ever.
Final Score: 10/10
7- Corey Lajoie: LEGALIZE TRIPLE DIGIT NUMBERS. Also, yellow works well with a brighter purple.
Final Score: 10/10
9- Chase Elliott: Jimmy "Smut" Means (Yes, that was his actual nickname) gets a surprising amount of love on throwback weekend. And that's a good thing. Who doesn't love the classic blue and yellow of NAPA?
Final Score: 10/10
10- Aric Almirola: I'm kinda surprised that he isn't throwing back to himself, since he's retiring at season's end. And on top of that, I had no idea that his grandfather raced. Red is the best color by the way.
Final Score: 10/10
11- Denny Hamlin: Wait 2016 was 6 years ago? As Denny's "favorite" broadcaster Kyle Petty always said "That's incredible!" Also black, orange, and purple are in the top 5 when it comes to best colors.
Final Score: 10/10
12- Ryan Blaney: This is a regular scheme, but they called it a throwback last year, so I will judge it as such. This is a massive improvement on last year's edition, which had those stupid "scallops" that Penske used to put on every paint scheme. But this doesn't have those, making it more accurate to the original.
Final Score: 8/10
14- Chase Briscoe: An IndyCar throwback? That's surprising. It's red, so of course I think it's good.
Final Score: 10/10
15- JJ Yeley: WHY ARE THESE THROWBACKS SO RECENT? THIS ONE'S ONLY 10 YEARS OLD! STOP REMINDING ME THAT I'M OLD! Anyway, about time Ollie's sponsored a car again! But it's kinda strange seeing them come back with a 5 Hour Energy throwback. It's red and black, which is awesome.
Final Score: 10/10
17- Chris Buescher: I love it. The colors, the driver it's paying tribute to, the timing of this tribute, EVERYTHING! It's probably the most accurate throwback this year, and Matt Kenseth just got into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, so the timing is perfect.
Final Score: 10/10
18- Kyle Busch: The final season of M&Ms sees a tribute to their debut in NASCAR, in 1998. This surprises me, because the fan vote that decided this, had other, more popular options. I like it though, and I think it's fitting.
Final Score: 9/10
20- Christopher Bell: Whoever decided this, please stop. This is the second time Christopher has had a throwback, and once again, it's to himself. This man is only 28 and in his third Cup Series season. He should not be throwing back to himself. Please. Stop.
Final Score: 0/10
21- Harrison Burton: I used to not like the original, I thought it was overrated, but it's grown on me. It's a nice, wholesome tribute to Harrison's dad, "The Mayor" Jeff Burton. The best adjective I can use to describe this scheme is "electric". I feel like the car would shock me if I touched it.
Final Score: 10/10
22- Joey Logano: I was about to complain that it's too early for Joey to throw back to himself, but then I remembered that he's 31, almost 32, and has 13 years of Cup Series experience under his belt. It's well earned. The red seems a bit off, a bit more reddish-orange than red, but other than that it's pretty good.
Final Score: 8/10
23- Bubba Wallace: Another case where the throwback's colors are so inaccurate to the point where you don't even realize it's a throwback. This is supposed to be a throwback to Bubba's late model from 2008 (oh btw, Bubba's another driver too young to be throwing back to himself).
Final Score: 4/10
24- William Byron: Thank God it's not that damn rainbow again. I love the rainbow car, but it's the most overdone throwback in NASCAR. Anyway, I love this. Jeff's "Fire and Flames" scheme is underappreciated.
Final Score: 10/10
41- Cole Custer: Jason Leffler was so underrated, and was taken from us way too soon. It's a red and black paint scheme, so of course I love it.
Final Score: 10/10
42- Ty Dillon and 43- Erik Jones: Damn, they're going all in on the Petty part of Petty GMS Racing. On top of that, they're going back to the 50s. I like it. They're getting points for the effort alone. The schemes themselves are a little plain. Petty GMS Racing understood the assignment.
Final Score: 10/10
45- Kurt Busch: As Kurt himself once said "HELL YEAH! HELL YEAH!" This is an amazing tribute to Awesome Bill from Dawsonville, much better than last year's McDonald's throwback.
Final Score: 10/10
48- Alex Bowman: I was not expecting this! As I said earlier, Mark Martin had great schemes, and this is one. Valvoline was unintentionally patriotic with this and I love it.
Final Score: 10/10
51- Cody Ware: A wonderful tribute to the late great Mike Stefanik. The red, white, and blue look great. I wish that someone else would drive so it wouldn't wreck 12 times though.
78- BJ McLeod: Flames on a race car is always cool. Plus it's nice reminder that BJ's been racing for longer than you think.
Final Score: 9/10
99- Daniel Suarez: Good thing Big E drove the 3 rather than the 99, otherwise we'd have to worry about the Wicked Witch of the South. Red is the best color, as I've already said.
Final Score: 10/10
And that's it. The next post will be sometime before next year, I'm more worried about college and a summer job at the moment. So have an awesome night everybody!
