When I watched the NASCAR Xfinity Series race this past weekend, it wasn’t the action packed top lane or the traffic jams that the action at the front of the pack created that caught my eye, although that was fun.
It was how many great wraps and schemes we saw on track this weekend. In racing, everyone wants to go fast, but it never hurts to look fast, too. These are my top five wraps from the Alsco Uniforms 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
No. 5 – Sammy Smith, TMC Toyota Supra
While this isn’t the first we’ve seen of this scheme, it doesn’t lend itself to quite the intimidating ride.
Those orange stripes down the side with the yellow/gold numbering immediately transport me back to the ’90s, where seemingly every black paint scheme looked menacing if for nothing but scaring the life out of drivers when they saw it in their rear view.
No. 4 – Jeremy Clements, Fly & Form Structures Chevy Camaro
From here on out, you’ll notice a lot of red, white and blue, so be prepared.
I absolutely love the Stars and Stripes on a racecar, and this one is just that, but the texturizing of the wrap just doesn’t do it for me. Don’t get me wrong, this was still one of the best looking cars on track this weekend, and Clements even managed another top-20 finish on the year in the process.
No. 3 – John Hunter Nemechek, Mobil 1 Toyota Supra
We had to get to the race winner at some point, you know?
JHN did indeed notch his third win of the season on Saturday and remains one of the heavy favorites to win the series outright this year, but he most certainly did it in style this week.
This scheme almost says “keep it simple, stupid” to me. It’s just three colors, no crazy effects, no neon lettering, just a solid look on a fast car, and I love it.
No. 2 – Austin Hill, Bennett Transportation Chevy Camaro
(Spoiler Alert, No. 1 is also in this tweet)
This was the hardest decision I’ve made all weekend, and I had to decide whether to mow the lawn on Sunday or risk my neighbor getting to his first. I’m putting Hill at No. 2 for one specific reason: the small stars on the side place it just a bit over the line of “too much going on.”
If it weren’t for that, these would be flipped.
No. 1 – Sheldon Creed, Whelen Chevy Camaro
I couldn’t find a tweet with just Creed’s car, so another side by side will have to do.
To me, this is the perfect way to incorporate the flag into a paint scheme, adding simple hints along the way. The regular Whelen scheme is gorgeous by itself; all it needed was a little bit of flair this weekend, and that shot it up my leaderboard. The perfect bow on top, though, was this.
The designers for Richard Childress Racing incorporated the blue and a few stars into the hood and front fascia as well as anyone I’ve seen this year. It’s symmetrical, it brings attention to the bowtie, and darn it does it look fast. It was fast, too, until a late race incident knocked Creed out of the running.
There you have it: five of the best schemes from Atlanta. There are only a few more draft-focused tracks left on the schedule as we’re officially over the halfway mark in the season, and we’ll be back here next week with plenty of talking points as we make for the home stretch — the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs.
About the author
Tanner Marlar is a staff writer for Sports Illustrated’s Cowbell Corner, an AP Wire reporter, an award-winning sports columnist and talk show host and master's student at Mississippi State University. Soon, Tanner will be pursuing a PhD. in Mass Media Studies. Tanner began working with Frontstretch as an Xfinity Series columnist in 2022.
A daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.com
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.