DARLINGTON, S.C. — If someone hosts a Halloween party and only half of the guests show up in costume, is it still worth having a themed event?
NASCAR and Darlington Raceway are grappling with a similar question after 19 Cup Series teams — half of the field — elected not to run old-school car designs for the 10th edition of NASCAR’s official “Throwback Weekend” race on Sunday.
There are two primary reasons. First, nearly every conceivable paint scheme has already received homage over the last decade — certainly all the memorable ones, anyway — making it hard to come up with fresh ideas for a throwback. Second, team sponsors who pay millions of dollars to advertise on race cars don’t want to sacrifice one of their 170-mph billboards by changing their branding for what is essentially a nod to another company.
“I thought it lost (its luster) about four or five years ago,” driver Chase Elliott said. “Not to be a downer, but I joked years ago if we kept going down the road, we’re going to be throwing it back to me in 2018.
“We’ve rode the horse to death, and we tend to do that a little bit too much.”
Other drivers agreed. Bubba Wallace and William Byron both said Throwback Weekend has “run its course,” and Carson Hocevar called it “all but done” given teams have increasingly used obscure or long-forgotten paint schemes.
“Eventually, you run out of ideas,” Hocevar said. “When you see a scheme recreated and you don’t know what they’re trying to shoot for, then you really didn’t achieve it. You shouldn’t have to have a picture next to it at all times or a QR code on it to tell you what car (it’s supposed to be).”
Throwbacks happen in other major league sports, but those are much simpler to pull off; the teams just wear their old uniforms. While trying to emulate the original design in NASCAR, recalling famous cars like Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s No. 3, it means incorporating a sponsor.
Except many of the most famous sponsors have either left the sport or are now defunct brands, such as Earnhardt’s GM Goodwrench. So without the car’s original sponsor, a team wanting to do an Earnhardt throwback could ask their current partners to run the GM Goodwrench colors and font — except that’s not a great fit for many of them.
“We ran out of a little bit of energy to pull off one that was good enough to make a mark,” said Brad Keselowski, whose RFK Racing team skipped running throwbacks with all three of its cars this year. “We have global brands on our cars and they have global initiatives and things going on and they want to make sure they hit those. So with limited windows to do that, it doesn’t always work out.”
Race-winner Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 car for Joe Gibbs Racing paid tribute to Carl Edwards’ old Office Depot scheme. (James Gilbert / Getty Images)
Denny Hamlin, who co-owns 23XI Racing with Michael Jordan, also saw none of his team’s cars run throwback schemes due to sponsor desires.
“It sounds good in theory, but these guys are trying to find a reason to get a return on their investment,” Hamlin said. “When you change their logo or change their colors, it doesn’t really line up with what they want.”
When Darlington first came up with the throwback race idea in 2015, there was widespread buy-in from teams and sponsors who didn’t want to be the only ones left out. In the inaugural throwback race, 32 teams participated, and that number increased in the following races. As the participation rate gradually declined, it became easier for others to show up costumeless to the party.
Fans on social media have tried to shame teams who do not participate while showering praise upon those who do, but the companies paying the bills don’t seem particularly moved by it.
“In a perfect world, we have a lot higher participation rate than we’ve seen,” Darlington Raceway president Josh Harris said. “I understand the challenges they have with their partners on putting this together. But I also think you’ve seen some really creative partners find a way to integrate into the theme, and it gives you an opportunity to amplify your message and brand if you do participate.”
But perhaps the conversation around throwback paint schemes is being conflated with the overall concept of recalling past eras, which Harris said still holds value with fans.
Darlington Raceway, akin to NASCAR’s version of Wrigley Field, is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. The rural South Carolina track has retained its same unusual egg shape that original owner Harold Brasington used in order to avoid a neighboring property’s minnow pond in 1950.
It is dripping with NASCAR history, and the weekend’s other features — a throwback parade from the Darlington town center to the track, a “NASCAR Alumni” gathering of retired drivers and old stock cars on display — are all well-received by fans.
Austin Cindric’s paint scheme was a nod to the first car Dale Earnhardt Sr. drove in NASCAR’s top series. (Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)
Nostalgia in NASCAR, as anywhere in life, is a hell of a drug. In a poll conducted on X with more than 5,000 voters on Monday, 81 percent said they wanted to see Throwback Weekend remain as-is.
So while the paint schemes are “a big part and it’s one of the things our fans really gravitate toward,” Harris said, the throwback concept is “also about the opportunity to tell stories.”
“When I look at fan reception, the fans really love it,” driver Kyle Busch said. “Even if some of the drivers may think it’s overblown, it’s not for us. It’s for the people in the grandstands.”
After his initial comments, Keselowski visited his team’s merchandise hauler in the fan zone to sign autographs and had a revelation.
“Seeing the fans all dressed up in older gear reminded me Throwback Weekend is much bigger than paint schemes,” Keselowski posted on X. “This weekend connects new and old fans to our sport’s history in multiple meaningful ways for everyone to enjoy.
“I understand the frustrations of trying to execute a great scheme, but also think we should be careful to not dismiss the fans that absolutely love this race.”
What’s old is new again. #NASCARThrowback pic.twitter.com/KlBI2nQRVH
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) April 6, 2025
In reality, that might be the key to unlocking even more potential from the concept. Instead of everyone getting twisted about how many teams were party poopers who refused to participate with old paint schemes, the weekend could be positioned simply about history in whatever form teams and sponsors chose.
As Truck Series driver Rajah Caruth said on X, Darlington could just be a “retro weekend” with “old-school type schemes and apparel, not necessarily throwing back to a specific scheme since there is not an infinite amount of them.”
Either way, Harris said Darlington and NASCAR will continue to take in feedback and monitor teams’ willingness to participate.
“If we ever get to the point where it’s not special, that’s where we really have to turn around and say, ‘What’s the next evolution of it?’” he said. “But it’s definitely something our fans continue to enjoy, and it’s just up to us to make sure we’re evolving it the right way so everyone feels like this is a platform they can tie into.”
(Top photo of Kyle Larson’s throwback car, a nod to Terry Labonte’s old Kellogg’s car, after a wreck in Sunday’s race: Jeffrey Vest / Icon Sportswire)