When Denny Hamlin pulled into Victory Lane at Darlington Raceway, driving a slick throwback paint scheme honoring Carl Edwards, it should’ve been a moment of pure nostalgia.
But behind the cheers and confetti, the NASCAR star dropped a truth bomb that’s been simmering behind the scenes for a while now — and it has everything to do with money, sponsors, and how the throwback weekend we all love might be on borrowed time.
Denny Hamlin Gets Candid About NASCAR’s Throwback Weekend
Hamlin, who races for Joe Gibbs Racing in the No. 11 Toyota Camry, grabbed his second consecutive NASCAR Cup Series win last weekend, clinching his Darlington victory in style with a tribute livery. The retro design paid homage to his former teammate, Edwards. Hamlin drove that machine straight to first place, with a smile on his face and some old-school swagger.
But, as it turns out, that throwback wasn’t just a sweet idea but a lucky exception. On his podcast Actions Detrimental, co-hosted with Jared Allen, Hamlin opened up about why we don’t see as many classic paint jobs on the track anymore — and it all comes down to sponsors.
He said, “I think it is becoming — it’s tough to keep the enthusiasm with it, and I think it has lost enthusiasm. I hear the other arguments that it’s not necessarily about the paint schemes, even though that’s typically what this was founded on was we’re gonna have a retro paint scheme.”
Throwbacks vs. Sponsors: The Real Story
Hamlin didn’t beat around the bush. “The world has changed. We don’t have sponsors in our sport now that are on these cars for 20-some races. When you got sponsors on the cars for three or four races, they’re not going to give up one of their races to change their logo, change their colors, change their brand. You’re not giving them value doing that,” he said.
And he’s not wrong. Back in the day, a sponsor would ride with a driver for 20-30 races a season. These days, a driver is lucky if they stick around for just five. So, when Throwback Weekend rolls around, teams are often stuck trying to squeeze history into a tiny marketing box.
Only 19 drivers ran retro liveries this year at Darlington. That means more than half the field showed up in standard gear, not because they didn’t want to rock the classics but perhaps because their sponsors didn’t want to jeopardize their own branding, as Hamlin shared.
Now, Hamlin is lucky. Sport Clips has been with him for years, and he loves coming up with new ideas. But other teams’ drivers were not so fortunate. Brad Keselowski even said his team had no choice but to skip the throwback look this year because their sponsors had other plans.
Hamlin totally gets it — NASCAR runs on sponsorships. No sponsors, no racing. So, if it doesn’t fit the sponsor’s plan, it just can’t happen. He’s not angry about it but is just being honest.
He mentioned, “When it’s a sponsor-driven sport, sponsors are going to drive what you see. That’s the model that we’ve got, and we just have to accept it.”
He is all for celebrating the past, but he also knows times are changing fast. And maybe that makes this year’s throwback win just a little more special.
