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With the 2023 NASCAR season over, we can now look back on what truly was a great year for the sport. The 75th anniversary of NASCAR was packed full of memorable moments, unexpected winners, and, yes, absolutely rocking paint schemes! But what exactly were the best paint schemes throughout the 2023 season? Well, fans took to Reddit to engage in the discussion. Let’s take a look at what they deemed as the best/most memorable paint schemes of the 2023 season!
For the fall Talladega race, Stewart-Haas Racing chose to make a call back to the movie Talladega Nights with a couple of throwbacks to the legends, Ricky Bobby and Carl Norton Jr. Adding in the fact that they spoke actual dialogue from the movie over the radio during the race, it made for an awesome weekend, adding a little bit of fun into the mix of a very tense Wild Card Round race.
It was AgentofChaos17 who suggested that this scheme was one of the best. It certainly is a beautiful car!
CaptainTilted says that an Old Spice-sponsored No. 14 car just feels right. I have to agree. When Tony Stewart first left JGR to race for his own team, Old Spice was one of his primary sponsors. Considering his time in the KHI No. 33 Xfinity Old Spice car, it sort of does fit. However, I like this red and blue scheme as opposed to Stewart’s old red and silver Old Spice scheme. And AngentofChaos17 and CaptainTilted seem to agree.
RhinoIA also enjoys the red and blue of the scheme, stating that the color combination always looks good. Joe_broke cautions that way of thinking. Great color combinations have been screwed up before.
Shake and bake, indeed, Busy-Macaroon-9511!
Sam4999, in all their good taste, was the one who suggested this car in the thread. Man, doesn’t that look slick!?
Roushfan5 brings up that the car was run last season. But here’s what I didn’t know: last year, the 11 on the side was colored gray. This year, as pointed out by sam4999 and crypto6g, the numbers were chrome. I agree, it really does make them pop!
While Kevin Harvick didn’t have the perfect final season (which makes Jeff Gordon’s retirement season in 2015 seem unobtainable good), he did run better than most in their swan song year. One of the best parts of any retirement year, though, is the awesome throwback paint schemes run in celebration of the driver’s career…and SHR gifted Harvick a lot of fond memories.
Among the most recent is the No. 4 Budweiser throwback Harvick ran in the Round of 8 race at Homestead Miami. The car is a throwback to Harvick’s championship-winning season of 2004 and they absolutely nailed it from the beer can on the back fender all the way to the neon yellow Sprint Cup Chase for the Cup number on the roof.
thatorangewrx mentioned this one on the Reddit threat:
advillenjoyer really digs the detail of the AB logo between the number 4 and the Budweiser can on the fender. They say it looks sick!
Sam4999 gives it the old Chef’s Kiss while thatorangewrx is just thrilled to have gotten to see it in person.
But perhaps the best scheme from Harvick’s #4Ever season is the All-Star car driven at North Wilkesboro, plopping Harvick in a No. 29 RCR stylized car for one final time. This car is a throwback to Harvick’s first in at Atlanta in 2001 following the tragic passing of NASCAR giant, Dale Earnhardt. And, overall, the car is perfect. My only gripe with it is that the number 29 on the passenger side of the car leans the wrong way. All RCR cars numbers lean forward towards the finish line but the 29 leans back in this recreation.
RoswellCrash suggested this one.
Meanwhile, KeepitStill claims that the No. 29 RCR number font being placed on a Ford makes them uncomfortable.
Erik Jones and the newly rebranded Legacy Motor Club paid homage to the late Petty Enterprises driver, John Andretti with this STP throwback. It has that classic Petty Blue/STP orange look and logo making it a perfect throwback. This scheme was run at North Wilkesboro for the 2023 All-Star race.
ToastyTiger81 mentioned this one in the Reddit thread. BlueJay843 simply tweeted the emoji of a goat. Enough said.
Personally, I’ve always thought that the RFK Castrol cars are the sharpest-looking machines amongst the pack. It screams classic NASCAR while also looking fresh and modern.
It was RhinoIA who suggested these two beauties!
Grievous2485 replied, saying that they dig the John Force throwback look. They then go back and forth, wondering the what ifs if Force and his team were still associated with Ford.
The coolest pair of paint schemes were run at Homestead-Miami Speedway between the 23XI teammates. Tyler Reddick drove a McDonald’s sponsored car featuring the Hamburgler while Bubba Wallace and his No. 23 team took on Grimace. Many thought the purple and black Grimace car looked the best of the two, especially with the flames on the side!
GWOT_TRAPLORDZ presented this beauty in the Reddit feed. And thatorangewrx posted this picture of the car up close in the garage area.
Also suggested in the Reddit feed was Bubba’s All-Star Columbia car which ran at North Wilkesboro.
Though he came up just shy of victory at the Chicago Street Course, Justin Haley and his Kaulig racing crew had some absolutely win-worthy paint schemes this year! The two that come to my mind, first and foremost, are his Mountain Dew scheme, which he raced in the 2023 Bristol night race.
medemey suggested this scheme in the Reddit thread. ToukasRage dug that it gave them V8 Supercar vibes. Meanwhile, wtb2612 thought that it would look better with the old number placement, calling its look here “awkward”.
The other is this beautiful Tide Ride, which Haley ran, appropriately, at Bristol Dirt.
In the last couple of years, Joey Logano and his No. 22 Pennzoil-sponsored Penske Ford have done subtle throwbacks to the likes of Steve Park, who raced a very similarly designed car back in the early days of DEI. While not an official throwback, it does resemble that old DEI ride. Historically, this car has been run at the Pennzoil-sponsored races, typically at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
ihatebobbryers suggested this one in the Reddit thread.
Hellmann’s has really crushed it with their paint schemes for Jr.’s one-offs in the Xfinity Series.
This one was suggested in the thread by Novocainboi.
ClydeDaGlide accurately commented, dubbing the ride the “Mayo Missile”. It sure was a sight to behold!
Travis Pastrana was somewhat of a surprise entry in the 2023 Daytona 500. Though he did have some NASCAR experience in the Truck and Xfinity Series, he had never really driven a Cup car. So, when 23XI announced that they would attempt to field a third open car for the Daytona 500, it raised some eyebrows. Luckily, Pastrana was able to qualify his way in and, during the race, he ended up being pretty sporty, ultimately finishing a modest 11th place.
The car with its red, white, blue, and black color scheme looks sharp so I see why kingpiranha suggested it.
This one is also a bit personal for me (I am the one suggesting this one). Though the race didn’t end to our liking, how could I, as a writer for this great website, not mention the car that we sponsored at Darlington earlier this year? Just look at it! It’s so beautiful and the colors just vibe. It was especially beautiful to see up close and in person!
Well, there you have it, Daily Downforce readers! When you think back, what are some of your favorite schemes from this year not mentioned here? Let us know! And be sure to keep it right here at DailyDownforce.com for all your latest off-season news and discussion topics!
