Earnhardt unveils Darlington throwback scheme

Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s throwback scheme for September's Bojangles' Southern 500 will feature the Nationwide colors and pay homage to the AC Delco car from his back-to-back Xfinity Series championships in 1998 and 1999.

"Once I got into the AC Delco car in '98, I inherited this car from Steve Park," Earnhardt said at the unveiling, which was held at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. "This scheme actually originated from my father racing in [an exhibition in] Japan. So I sort of inherited this car, this scheme and this team, and they took me in as an unproven rookie, and they taught me a lot about how to drive racecars and we had a ton of success winning the two Xfinity Series championships and about 13 races along the way. We had a blast, and it's a paint scheme and a part of my career I really hold dear. I think this car is a great representation of that time, and I think the Nationwide logos and colors match really well.

"I appreciate the freedom from Nationwide to be able to do this. It means a lot to me, I'm sure it means a lot to our fans as well. It's a great-looking car; I can't wait to get to Darlington and take it out on the track."

Since 2015, NASCAR, its teams, drivers and broadcast partner NBC have created a full-blown throwback campaign to celebrate the sport's original paved superspeedway, which began hosting NASCAR events in 1950. Last year saw 35 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series teams change to throwback paint schemes.

"With the new throwback program it's even more exciting," Earnhardt said. "It's a great opportunity for teams, drivers, owners, anyone really to really nod the cap to the history, and you can be as creative as you like, and we've seen some of the teams over the last couple years push the bar, push the standard pretty high. We've seen some really incredible effort put into that, not only with the design of the cars but the uniforms, the drivers even, facial hair ... and it's fun. I think we all enjoy that. It means a lot to be able to walk into the garage and peek around and see who's done what.

"It has to make the folks that are getting this sort of acknowledgement feel great that they're being remembered, and what they meant to the sport is being acknowledged. ... And Darlington is the perfect place to do it."

Earnhardt, who was in middle school during the period NASCAR is celebrating this year (1984-1989), remembers the track tearing up the tires and cars of that era. It's a physical track that's smoother with today's cars, but it's still not too hard to get the famed Darlington Stripe.

"It is a great racetrack, extremely tough challenge for team and driver," he said. "It's got so much history, it means a lot to win there. It's very tough to get around and when you do run well there you know as a driver that you had a big role in that. At other racetracks maybe the car is a bigger equation whereas at Darlington the driver has a lot more to do with the success of the team. So that's a great feeling because when you run well there you know you earned it.

"I've been going there a really long time. It's location allowed us to be able to go when we were kids, so I seen a lot of races there and definitely understand that it demands respect. And I never, they talked about the Darlington stripe, that was just a topic of conversation every time you would go there. And I would hear that so much as a kid, and it's easier to get than you think."