Our Favorite NASCAR Liveries

We’ve got NASCAR on our minds this week, for two reasons. One, the 2024 Cup Series championship is decided: Joey Logano, for the third time, has been crowned the winner. The other is more somber.

Two days before Logano swung his #22 Mustang around and around in happy donuts at Phoenix, Arizona, Bobby Allison passed away. He was 86, and best known as one of the most winning drivers in stock car racing; only three drivers have won more races than he (Richard Petty, David Pearson, and Jeff Gordon). Whether or not you’re familiar with Allison’s story, take a moment and read the article that Steven Cole Smith wrote on Tuesday remembering him; it’s a poignant reminder of the human side of racing, which isn’t always as glamorous as TV broadcasts would suggest.

With all that on our minds, we started recollecting our favorite NASCAR liveries—whether from Allison’s era, before it, or after. Scroll through them, and share your own favorite in the comments below.

Smokey Yunick’s Black and Gold

I always liked Smokey Yunick’s simple black and gold livery, well enough that I sort of duplicated it in several of my own stock cars, including a Chevelle and this Street Stock Camaro (left). — Steven Cole Smith

Jeff Gordon’s DuPont Rainbow

I’ll admit, I wasn’t much into NASCAR as a young buck. However, I can still remember seeing it on TV occasionally at my grandparents’ house, and I’ll never forget the DuPont Rainbow livery of Jeff Gordon’s #24 car. This image is from the Indianapolis race in 1999. There were variations on this theme, but I think this one stands the test of time as one of the all-time great liveries. So easy to identify, and so bright and cheerful. — Nate Petroelje

I paid next to no attention to NASCAR growing up, but you couldn’t really ignore Jeff Gordon’s DuPont–liveried Monte Carlo. Maybe that’s an obvious choice, but I just like the colors. — Andrew Newton

Allison’s Coca-Cola Monte Carlo

The late Bobby Allison was a great driver and a great ambassador for NASCAR, but even if this big brute of a Monte Carlo hadn’t won 11 races in the 1971 season, it would still look good with its red and gold livery. Allison managed to win five in a row in the Coca-Cola-sponsored car and finished fourth in points that year, with Petty taking the series championship. — Brandan Gillogly

Gant’s Skoal Bandit … or Sorenson’s Polaroid?

If I had to pick, just because it’s so evocative of the era, I am going with Harry Gant’s 1980s Skoal Bandit scheme.

If I had to pivot, again purely on aesthetics, I’d go Reed Sorenson’s Polaroid scheme. Simple, multicolored, not visually overwhelming. But still a fundamentally black stock car, which has menace. — Eric Weiner

Miller Genuine Draft, Black and Gold Edition

Since Eric took the slick-looking Harry Gant Skoal Bandit, and the clear choices of Earnhardt and Gordon almost go without saying, I’ll go with the simple black-and-gold Miller Genuine Draft livery, especially during the Rusty Wallace era. It’s not for driver or brand affiliation—black and gold just look great on a race car. Honorable mention to Darrell Waltrip’s #17 Tide Monte Carlo. — Eddy Eckart

[If you’re expecting a photo of Waltrip’s #17, hang tight. —GH]

Marty Robbins, Unbranded

Throwback to the unbranded pink and yellow of journeyman Marty Robbins. — Stefan Lombard

Chrome Numbers!

There is only one correct answer and it is the Gray Ghost driven by Buddy Baker. Chrome numbers! — Cameron Neveu

Cameron Has Many Thoughts

[We couldn’t bring ourselves to limit our most vocal NASCAR fan to just one choice. —Ed.]

There are too many to choose as runners-up, though. Benny Parsons had two top-notch Chevys. The red Chevelle (with blue wheels!) and a gold Kings Row Malibu.

DiGard 88 Gatorade car also up there. Love the 88 font.

While we’re on a Darrell Waltrip thread:

Okay, last one for now. Very underrated scheme:

Purolator was the main sponsor during David Pearson’s dominance with the Wood Brothers, but the filter company sponsored Derricke Cope’s car in the early ’90s. One of the car’s only bright spots was a trip to the 1990 Daytona 500 victory lane after Dale Earnhardt cut a tire on the last lap. — Cameron Neveu

Go Daddy… or don’t

This is certainly not my most favorite, but the Go Daddy livery stands out in my mind because I didn’t like it. As a car enthusiast, I lost interest in NASCAR because the platforms had been homogenized for years. I also grew weary of tech company hype after the dot-com bubble. That’s why this livery is definitely the most, ahem, memorable in my mind. — Sajeev Mehta

…It wouldn’t be right if we skipped the Intimidator

I had to come back and add this one. There are plenty of other worthwhile liveries that deserve a spot on this list (Bill Elliott’s number 9 Coors Thunderbird, or the “race the truck, Dale” brown-and-white UPS Ford of Dale Jarrett come to mind), but there’s one we can’t skip. Despite my previous vote for Wallace’s black-and-gold number 2, no one wore black better than Earnhardt. This was especially true in 1988, his first year under GM Goodwrench sponsorship and the last of the Chevys to be based on the rear-drive Monte Carlo. No, a solid color is not a livery per se, but no one’s mistaking the black number three for anything but Dale’s car. —Eddy Eckart