NASCAR Cup Darlington

Carson Hocevar to run Dale Earnhardt throwback scheme and firesuit at Darlington

NASCAR isn't making 'Throwback Weekend' mandatory in 2026, but plenty of teams are still eagerly using the event to celebrate the history of the sport

Nick DeGroot

Edited: Mar 17, 2026, 12:16 AM

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CarsonHocevar

Carson Hocevar Darlington throwback

This weekend, NASCAR heads to Darlington Raceway for the first of the track's two Cup races this year. The historic track is one of the most difficult (and exciting) on the schedule, and has hosted Cup races since 1950.

The South Carolina track will play host to the sixth round of the 2026 NASCAR Cup season, and we've already been given a glimpse of some of the throwback schemes teams will be running. For example, all three RFK Racing entries will honor Greg Biffle, who was killed in a plane crash alongside six others last December.

Spire Motorsports is also paying tribute to another legend of the sport -- seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and first-ballot Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt.

Carson Hocevar, who has been much-criticized by his competitors for his highly aggressive style, will run the blue-and-yellow Wrangler colors (but with Chili's as the sponsor) as a tribute to Earnhardt.

25 of Earnhardt's 76 Cup wins came with Wrangler as the primary sponsor, including four at Darlington (1982, 1984, 1987x2). This particular paint scheme is directly inspired by the one Earnhardt ran in 1981.

Hocevar is still searching for his first win at the Cup level, and will be making his 87th career start this weekend. He has two runner-up finishes, but his best at Darlington is ninth, which happened in last fall's Southern 500.

Even the firesuit is a throwback, reimagining the blue jean and suede vest set Earnhardt himself wore in promotional images in 1981.

“Last year, we noticed the chatter comparing Carson’s driving style to a young Dale Earnhardt, and it’s only grown louder as big names in the sport make the comparison,” said Chili’s Director of Media Tim Forman. “Given the discussion, we wanted to honor Dale’s legacy, using his 1981 paint scheme as the inspiration for what we’re calling the Marg Machine. Spire and Carson were all in, and we hope fans enjoy seeing the iconic blue and yellow on track again.”

Added Hocevar: "Chili’s always knocks it out of the park with their suit and car designs, and the Marg Machine is no different. Everyone at Chili’s and Spire put in a lot of work to get the car as close to the original as possible, and they did a great job. We’ve had bold suits in the past, but this might be one of my favorites. It’s truly a privilege to honor Dale’s legacy on Alumni Weekend down in Darlington, and hopefully we can give him and all the folks from Chili’s a great run on Sunday.”

This also isn't the first time Spire has used its #77 entry to run an Earnhardt-inspired paint scheme. In 2020, Ross Chastain drove a Spire car with the same colors as the red/white/blue #77 Chevy Earnhardt piloted in his third career start. Dirty Mo Media, which is owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr., sponsored that effort.

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