NASCAR’s most popular driver got this one wrong.
It’s Throwback Weekend in NASCAR, with the sport heading to one of their original tracks in Darlington Raceway and honoring some of the legends of the sport.
NASCAR first designated the Darlington race as “throwback weekend” back in 2015, when the Lady In Black was cut back to one race a year and the Southern 500 was moved back to its traditional Labor Day weekend date. But in 2021, Darlington was given its second date back, and with NASCAR now returning to the South Carolina track twice a year, generally the spring race is throwback weekend.
The weekend is a time for teams, sponsors and fans to celebrate the sport’s long, storied history, with teams running special throwback paint schemes and NASCAR often inviting legends of the sport to be part of the festivities. It’s given us some amazing throwback paint schemes over the years, with liveries honoring everyone from Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty to some drivers who choose to throw it back to some of their own earliest paint schemes – and even the cars from Talladega Nights.
I mean, just look at some of the cool rides we’ve seen over the years:
Preece & Chase!
We wanna go fast with @WonderBreadUSA and @OldSpice at Talladega. pic.twitter.com/oxGY2UgvRG
— Haas Factory Team (@HaasFactoryTeam) September 25, 2023
Excited to be on the @tylerreddick No. 8 hood for @tootoughtotame #nascarthrowback race honoring country music legend & @nascar driver Marty Robbins. The paint scheme was inspired by Marty’s 1972/1973 iconic pink and yellow machine. Tune-in Sunday! #Goodyear400 @RCRracing pic.twitter.com/GsSydv3Ipc
— Joe Nichols (@JoeNichols) May 6, 2021
'@JEarnhardt1 will honor his grandfather, Dale Earnhardt, at @TooToughToTame.
His paint scheme resembles the car Dale drove in the 1996 All-Star Race, promoting the Olympics in Atlanta. pic.twitter.com/0lz39J1KW1
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) April 21, 2021
NEWS: @joshberry and @tirepros to carry special @DaleJr throwback colors on the No. 8 Chevrolet @TooToughToTame. pic.twitter.com/E9DEHECRPk
— JR Motorsports (@JRMotorsports) March 23, 2021
Ross Chastain throwback for Darlington. Worldwide Express is a UPS authorized reseller. pic.twitter.com/Xsa19Ymio9
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) May 2, 2023
A trip down #NASCARThrowback memory lane.@landoncassill | Sterling Marlin | 2019 pic.twitter.com/hs39jfNOsQ
— NASCAR Classics (@NASCARClassics) April 6, 2025
Hey, it’s #NASCARThrowback weekend! pic.twitter.com/lra5Wv5VWb
— Racing America (@RacingAmerica) April 5, 2025
Hey, it’s It seems like Throwback Weekend has been a massive success for NASCAR and for fans…but apparently not everybody’s a fan of it.
When asked his thoughts on the annual event, NASCAR Cup Series driver Chase Elliott said he thinks Throwback Weekend has run its course:
“I thought it lost its luster about 4 or 5 years ago… Not to be a downer, and I joked about this years ago, if we kept going down the road we’re gonna be throwing it back to me in 2018. So at some point I think we gotta chill on it a little bit. I think we’ve rode the horse to death.”
Obviously Chase’s words carry a lot of weight, considering he’s consistently voted the sport’s Most Popular Driver. But on this one it seems that fans couldn’t disagree more:
https://t.co/ngQm8RwpDL pic.twitter.com/k4LjzYFQMm
— Eric Estepp (@EricEstepp17) April 5, 2025
I think it’s important to celebrate the history of the sport, & having one weekend a year devoted to that in some form or fashion still makes a lot of sense. Maybe we’ve exhausted the current format, but whatever it is will only be as good as the effort put in across the board. https://t.co/JpdI0RSTeF
— Bradley Sisson (@BradSisson4) April 5, 2025
I disagree, I look forward to throwback weekend every year. I think the issue is teams and sponsors don't want to mess up their "brand identity" so we get boring cars or no throwback at all. I mean, take a look at Brennan Poole's throwback, it's the best one I have ever seen. https://t.co/wC6rSJRmRv
— Gacha Racing 18 (@GachaRacing18) April 6, 2025
Sorry but Chase may just be bitter that his throwback isn’t good
I wish everyone participated in Darlington throwback weekend https://t.co/R6ZqmbrY3b
— Dylan Kopec
(@DylanKopec) April 6, 2025
(@DylanKopec) Yeah, I gotta disagree. #NASCARThrowback is one of the best things NASCAR has come up with in a good while. https://t.co/M6HV3YJ8d6
— 3HL4LIFE (@3HL4LIFE) April 5, 2025
This guy stinks https://t.co/LyXOBIlxar
— Brock Purdy Appreciation Station (@TylerRichard) April 6, 2025
Of course as many pointed out, Chase’s comments come on a weekend when Chase and his #9 Hendrick Motorsports team have been heavily criticized for their throwback scheme that…well, doesn’t look anything like the original.
HMS will field this Ken Schrader throwback for Chase Elliott at Darlington.
This has got to be one of the worst attempts at a throwback scheme in a very, very long time. The colors don’t match up, the visuals don’t match up. It’s just all… Wrong. pic.twitter.com/ERhIFXTtfU
— Seriously Fast Motorsports (@Seriously_Fast) March 25, 2025
But even some of Chase’s fellow drivers disagreed with him on Throwback Weekend:
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… https://t.co/6hPICMFgH8
— Brad Keselowski (@keselowski) April 5, 2025
And I’ve gotta admit, I too think Chase is wrong on this one. Throwback Weekend isn’t for the drivers. It’s for the fans, and the sponsors, and the legends of the sport to be celebrated.
The concept of Throwback Weekend has helped inject new energy into a race at a track that, not too long ago, lost one of their two races because they couldn’t fill the stands. But the introduction of Throwback Weekend brought a new excitement for Darlington, and the track has managed to use that excitement to not only add another race to the schedule but to make the spring race one of the year’s most exciting events.
It also provides a way for teams and sponsors that usually don’t get as much attention to get airtime on television and get people talking about them on social media. Most weekends you’ll never see some of the smaller teams on the screen, but you can be damn sure that the broadcast will find them and show their awesome throwback schemes, and that provides value for teams and sponsors that makes them want to keep investing in the sport.
Not to mention: Fans still love it. I mean sure, some of the throwback schemes (like Chase’s) miss the mark due to brand guidelines from their current sponsors who apparently aren’t willing to allow their logo to be used in a way that doesn’t meet their requirements, but others embrace it and go all out with the throwbacks, and those are the ones that are really cool to see.
Chase may be over Throwback Weekend, but it seems like it’s been nothing but a positive for NASCAR, for Darlington and for the fans who get excited for the race and the throwback schemes every year.
I hope NASCAR keeps it on the schedule, and hopefully we keep seeing these awesome throwback schemes every year – even if we’re eventually throwing it back to 2018.
The post Chase Elliott Says That NASCAR’s “Throwback Weekend” At Darlington Has Run Its Course & Fans Couldn’t Disagree More first appeared on Whiskey Riff.