NASCAR Rumor Mill: No Darlington Throwback Weekend in 2026
What’s Happening? Following a somewhat disappointing showing from NASCAR’s teams in 2025, sources tell the Daily Downforce that NASCAR will not…
Darlington Raceway track President Josh Harris addressed the end of NASCAR’s Throwback Weekend during a recent interview, citing the change as an evolution point for the track’s annual spring race weekend.
What’s Happening? Following a somewhat disappointing showing from NASCAR’s teams in 2025, sources tell the Daily Downforce that NASCAR will not…
Last week, the Daily Downforce first reported that industry sources were saying that NASCAR is ending its official throwback weekend event that usually takes place during the first race weekend at Darlington Raceway.
Throwback weekend is a favorite amongst fans, having produced both memorable moments and looks, with most of the field historically designing a car based on a classic look from NASCAR’s past. This event first began at the 2015 Southern 500, and shifted to earlier in the season with the addition of the track’s spring weekend in 2021.
Since then, interest from both fans, industry members, and even some sponsors has dwindled, and following a somewhat lackluster event in 2025, the decision has been made for the weekend to no longer be focused on throwback paint schemes.
During an interview with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Thursday, track President Josh Harris explained the move as a turning point in the track’s history, saying that the spring weekend will still be used to celebrate NASCAR history, but in a different way.
“We always look at, you know, our race weekends, take feedback from the fans, the industry, Harris said. “And I think that we’ve reached a natural kind of evolution point with the spring weekend to ‘how do we continue to celebrate the history and the tradition of the sport in different new ways?'”
Without teams bringing throwback cars, Harris says, with programs like NASCAR’s Alumni Program, the track will “continue to evolve and make this really about the alumni as part of the weekend and continue to develop today’s stars and the legend.”
Though the historic fanfare will continue, and a few teams will probably bring some form of throwback look, this still begs the question of what led to throwback weekend coming to an end.
Harris, like many industry members, pointed to a number of reasons, including sponsor participation, team participation, and the need to focus on living legends and the stars of today.
Lack of sponsor participation is something that fans have latched onto as a reason for the event’s demise.
The idea being that some sponsors did not want to disguise their brand for the race weekend, as in some cases, sponsors could become unrecognizable, and, in theory, this led to some teams not fielding throwback cars.
During this interview, Harris said that while industry feedback was a part of this decision, the track didn’t want teams not sporting a throwback design “feeling like they’re not part of a weekend because they’ve got other priorities with their partners.”
In spite of this theory, some sponsors would use the weekend to go above and beyond in marketing themselves, with some doing paint scheme contests in the weeks leading up to Darlington. In other cases, some brands used it as a reason to return to the sport, with Mello Yello donning Kyle Larson’s No. 42 car in 2015.
Regardless, some of the classic NASCAR festivities will continue at the track, and some teams are going to do their best to sport a throwback with or without the official Throwback Weekend tagline, something that fans online seem to be fine with.
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Two NASCAR Cup Series crew members for Ross Chastain’s No. 1 team were suspended following the race at Circuit of the Americas
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On February 17, Ubisoft released a trailer that confirmed that NASCAR would be included in The Crew Motorfest’s next season update. Details were limited at the time, but in a press release issued today, Ubisoft revealed the full details of the update ahead of its March 4 launch.
Ubisoft says drafting will affect car speed and help save fuel, implying that drafting will be a huge factor in the game, at least with these cars. You can check out this and much more on Ubisoft’s official post linked below
Earlier this Tuesday, the official The Crew Motorfest account clarified confusion around the NASCAR bundles. The Crew Credit (CC) bundles only include cosmetic team liveries, not additional cars. The 3 base Next Gen cars (Ford Mustang Dark Horse, Toyota Camry XSE, and Chevrolet ZL1) are part of the free Season 9 update and can be purchased separately.
Mitch Rasmussen, NASCAR’s Senior Director of Interactive, said in the press release:
We’re excited to bring our iconic brand to life in The Crew Motorfest. This collaboration represents another important step in our strategy to bring NASCAR into the digital spaces and places where next generation fans spend their time, giving players new ways to interact with the culture and communities they love.
The content arrives as part of Year 3 Season 9 and is officially licensed by NASCAR. You can watch the first trailer and learn more in the article linked below
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Four road courses on the schedule, and somehow that’s enough to spark one of the biggest debates in the garage. After recent comments from Brad Keselowski questioning the business value of road racing, the conversation has picked up serious steam. Is NASCAR leaning too far into it, or is the current balance about right?
There are valid points on both sides, from sponsorship realities to fan traditions to competitive diversity. Some tracks have gained traction. Others have struggled. The question isn’t just whether road courses belong, but how many make sense within a 36-race season. It’s less about extremes and more about direction. And with future schedule changes always looming, this debate probably isn’t settled anytime soon.
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