Breaking news

NASCAR O'Reilly Darlington

Lupton honors 'Rainbow Warriors' with Darlington throwback scheme

Dylan Lupton’s throwback paint scheme for next weekend’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway is likely to garner some second looks.

Jim Utter

Edited: Aug 24, 2017, 5:25 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Dylan Lupton throwback scheme

Lupton and his No. 24 JGL Racing Toyota will feature the “Rainbow Warriors” paint scheme of former NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon from his 1993 rookie season with Hendrick Motorsports.

The similarities in the designs are remarkable, even with the different car manufacturers (Gordon ran a Chevy) and sponsors (Gordon was sponsored by DuPont while Lupton will be sponsored by Nut Up).

Lupton, a native of Escalon, Calif., said Gordon, who now serves as a TV analyst for Fox Sports NASCAR broadcasts, was his idol growing up.

“Even though I was born the same year he started in his career in Cup (1993), as I began pursuing my racing career at a young age, I would remember spending my Sunday afternoons in front of the television rooting him on hoping one day I would have the chance to race against him,” Lupton said.

“Next weekend at Darlington, I hope to have his support as I pay tribute to his NASCAR career sporting the famous ‘Rainbow Warriors’ colors.”

Gordon won a Daytona 500 qualifying race, won his first pole at Charlotte in the fall and finished 14th in the series standings on his way to rookie-of-the-year honors in 1993. His career eventually included four championships in what is now the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, 81 pole and 93 wins, including three Daytona 500 victories.

“This is a great honor for myself to honor Jeff Gordon and his iconic paint scheme with this throwback program at Darlington,” said team owner, James Whitener.

“This is a little-known fact – but Jeff Gordon is one of the main reasons I am involved as an owner in this sport as I was a big fan of his. That is why we run the No. 24 and developed the ‘Young Guns’ program.”

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Captain's Corner: Austin Cindric wants to prove himself at Road America

Next article NASCAR Roundtable: Will there be a surprise winner at Road America?

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Carson Hocevar and Cleetus McFarland win LeMullets 2026 in epic finish

General

Misc General 55 min

Carson Hocevar and Cleetus McFarland win LeMullets 2026 in epic finish

TV ratings released for NASCAR Cup season finale

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Homestead-Miami

7 h

TV ratings released for NASCAR Cup season finale

Chase Elliott's car chief leaves Hendrick for NASCAR Truck crew chief role

NASCAR Truck

NSTR NASCAR Truck

Homestead

8 h

Chase Elliott's car chief leaves Hendrick for NASCAR Truck crew chief role

The surprising convergence behind F1's increasingly competitive 2026 season

Formula 1

The surprising convergence behind F1's increasingly competitive 2026 season

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts