Earnhardt Jr. big fan of throwback schemes at Darlington
Having a cool looking paint scheme each weekend is something important to Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Earnhardt Jr. likes the one he’ll bring to Darlington Raceway for the Bojangles’ Southern 500 on Sept 4. The Hendrick Motorsports driver will run the Gray Ghost paint scheme on his No. 88 Chevrolet for NASCAR’s throwback race weekend.
It’s a tribute to the late Buddy Baker who drove it during his career. Baker died in August.
“I love the look of the car and the paint scheme and the Gray Ghost is my favorite paint scheme of all time,” Earnhardt said during an unveiling Wednesday at Darlington Raceway. “When I don’t like the scheme , I don’t want to get in it. When the suit ain’t good I don’t want to wear it.”
This will be the second time Earnhardt Jr. will be driving the Gray Ghost scheme. He drove it in the All-Star race in 2008 at Charlotte Motor Speedway for his old sponsor, the National Guard. Nationwide will be the sponsor of this car, which has Junior’s favorite color orange outlined on the No. 88 and orange on the hood of the car.
“Buddy was a good part of the sport for a very long time and it is fun to have opportunity to honor him,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “And I’m glad Darlington is here and it is a place we come to enjoy history. I am glad they created a throwback weekend to do these things.”
Earnhardt Jr. has been one of the sports biggest proponents of Darlington’s throwback weekend, which began last season to a rousing success. Darlington’s race weekend earned them the prestigious Myers Brothers Award last year, which goes to those who have made outstanding contributions to stock-car racing.
Nearly every Sprint Cup team drove a throwback paint scheme last year and some of the team’s pit crew members dressed in old uniforms. This year’s theme will focus on the years 1975-84 and so far three drivers (Junior, Ricky Stenhouse and Danica Patrick) have announced their intentions to do it again.
“When you got the sport’s most popular driver giving you feedback on how you should do something, it helps,” Darlington Raceway president Chip Wile said. “The reason this program is successful is because everyone has a touch point with it.”
Junior said the weekend is becoming a competition between the teams on wanting to out do each other. In addition to the paint scheme, Earnhardt said his pit crew will wear all-white fire suits from the 70s and 80s.
“Everyone has had a year to think about it and can come with so much creativity,” Earnhardt said. “It was so much fun walking through the garage area last year. Everybody can celebrate the history of the sport together in one weekend.”
This story was originally published April 13, 2016 at 6:04 PM with the headline "Earnhardt Jr. big fan of throwback schemes at Darlington."