“It’s one of those deals”: Richard Petty suggests NASCAR’s nostalgia-filled Darlington weekend could soon come to an end

Although throwback weekends, like the most recent one at Darlington, occupy a special place in NASCAR fans' hearts, Richard Petty believes the trend might end soon. In a recent episode of the Petty Race Recap with former NASCAR Winston Cup crew chief Dale Inman, “The King” went candid on NASCAR's throwback weekends.

Petty believes teams might soon run out of ideas. He shook his head and said with a smile:

“The only thing throwback is they just paint the cars a different color. I think they had my dad's '56 Dodge painted. I think '59 Plymouth that I ran down there. You know, everybody's got his own idea. It's one of those deals now; they've done it so long they're running out old paint schemes from way back.”

Here is a clip from the episode, posted on X:

For Inman, however, the throwback paint schemes still matter a lot because they bring back good old memories.

Since the inception of the trend at the 2015 Southern 500, several teams have brought out memorable paint schemes from the annals of NASCAR history as forms of tribute to prominent names in the world of the sport or to commemorate special moments throughout the 75 glorious years of NASCAR being one of the pioneers of competitive motorsports in the US.

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Denny Hamlin’s opinion on throwback weekends is similar to Richard Petty

Joe Gibbs Racing sensation and 23XI Racing owner Denny Hamlin feels the throwback weekends have lost their meaning altogether. In a recent episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin said:

“The throwback thing has kind of lost its luster, in my opinion. Especially when teams are throwing back to different eras. I don’t know. It’s almost confusing to me more than anything.”

The three-time Daytona 500 winner opined that it was cool when the trend was fresh, but now, just like Richard Petty, he believes it is all just “over the board.”

“I’d be surprised if this goes past this year, for sure.” he added.

Nevertheless, he did express his opinion about the paint schemes that Hendrick Motorsports brought out last week at Darlington Raceway.

“I think the Hendrick cars did an awesome job with their throwbacks,” he added. “All of them look fantastic. You’re certainly going to recognize their schemes from different eras, for sure.”

The Hendrick Motorsports throwback schemes for the Goodyear 400 were as follows: Kyle Larson's car was a nod to Terry Labonte’s 1996 championship-winning Chevy, Chase Elliott's number 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 featured the paint scheme that Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s #88 car flaunted when the latter won the 2015 Daytona 500. William Byron's car honored Jeff Gordon's 2009 “Firestorm” paint and Alex Bowman’s car bore the paint scheme that Jimmie Johnson drove back in 2002 when he was a rookie.