Memorial Day weekend is such a special time in NASCAR, honoring those who served and gave the ultimate sacrifice.
Often throughout the years, teams will run paint schemes commemorating the weekend, and this year’s no different.
Several NASCAR Cup, O’Reilly Auto Parts and Craftsman Truck series drivers will carry red, white and blue colors. Others may do camouflaged or other special schemes for the races at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Here’s a running look at some of those schemes. This will be updated throughout the week, and if you don’t see a driver, the team either hasn’t released it yet or isn’t running one.
Cup Series
Jockey and Folds of Honor has a very special and unique scheme unlike one I’ve ever seen before. It has some stars on it as well.
The red, white and blue United States flag design is one of the more memorable schemes featuring Bass Pro Shops and Winchester.
Gragson’s No. 4 Rush Truck Centers car has a bit of the American flag embedded in the side of the traditional Rush scheme.
The darker blue pairs well with the red and white stripes on Larson’s No. 5 HendrickCars.com car.
Freeway Insurance is on board this patriotic scheme, with features from the American flag.
The No. 8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen car looks good with the dark blue Cheddar’s logo, hood and rear end of the car. The curved red stripes on a white base is clean.
Elliott’s Napa No. 9 has red and white stripes and a blue NAPA logo on the sides, as well as blue base and white stars on the hood.
While not as flashy at first glance, a closer look reveals the names of 7,064 fallen solders who gave their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Hamlin’s No. 11 is the normal National Debt Relief paint scheme, but it still has the patriotic colors and design, so that’s why it’s here.
The blending transition of stripes to white stars on a blue base makes Blaney’s BodyArmor Flash I.V. No. 12 car stand out.
Allmendinger’s No. 16 has a smooth blue and red front and back, with a rough paint on the side behind the red number. Looks pretty good, though the BTS logo kind of interferes with the background a bit.
Buescher’s No. 17 Body Guard/Fastenal car stands out with its long and wide red flames on a blue background on the sides. There’s also flames of blue with white stars, as well as light blue stars within the blue background.
The No. 19 has red and blue colors with red and white stars, as well as red and white stripes in front of the number.
Bell’s No. 20 has light grey camouflage base and bright green number and logo.
Pennzoil/Shell went all out for Memorial Day weekend. Truly a gorgeous design, with the wavy flag below the dark blue and white stars on the side. Even the red Shell fits well on the back corner panel. Plus the red chrome number on the side and the blue on the top just completes the design.
What makes this blue, white and red-numbered car stand out is its spray paint effect on the top especially.
The No. 38 Aaron’s car features red, white and blue with some white and red stars. Simple yet sleek.
Sysco and Hickory Tavern join Custer’s No. 41. The roof is more Sysco’s colors, but the sides have red, white and blue.
Sometimes simple is better. The No. 42 (as well as Jone’s No. 43 in future races) has some bigger features like the white base and Dollar Tree logo in the front and sides and the dark blue background. It also has smaller details like the red stripes on the sides and tiny white stars that go around the edges of the windshield and on the back panel.
Jones’ No. 43 has some nice red, white and blue stripes and some small white stars.
The No. 45 Mobil 1/O’Reilly Auto Parts car will be hard to miss with its bright red number on a blue background on the door. It also has some red, white and blue stars throughout the design.
This car doesn’t have the red, white and blue colors, but it does have stars and stripes on the rear end of the car.
The Ally No. 48 car is camo themed this weekend.
What could be more American than Evil Knievel? The simple stars and stripes banner angled behind the number is a good, clean look on top of the blue base.
The No. 66 has a nice-looking blue camo background.
McDowell’s No. 71 is definitely different from others, with red and white eagle feathers on a blue background and a white number on the side.
The No. 97 SuperFile Chevrolet has greenish camo for its new paint scheme.
O’Reilly Series
Sharp angles look good on just about any car, and Creed’s is no different. The white stars on a blue background behind the front wheel is a nice touch.
All four of Richard Childress Racing’s cars are decked in the red, white and blue. Love’s No. 2 has a blue hood, red and white stripes in the front, a red No. 2 on a white base and red back end. It also has some blue stars scattered on there.
Allgaier’s No. 7 is definitely patriotic, with both red and blue stars, red and white stripes and blue numbers.
The No. 17 is simple yet sleek, with the red and white stripes below the dark blue. The line of stars fit well in the design.
Sawalich’s No. 18 Starkey Hearing car is all about the details (and it looks good to boot). The beautiful red, white and blue colors have camo, while the number is a silver chrome.
Hill’s No. 21 is vastly different from his teammate, as it has blue on the hood, roof and bottom splitter and skirt areas. Red blends in the middle on the sides of the car, with white stars in front of the white number. There’s also several stars on the hood.
Thompson’s No. 26 looks sharp, with red, white and blue jagged edges on the side, as well as a few stars.
It was hard to tell from the first glance on the side, but the hood especially is patriotic with an eagle and Operation: Freedom. It also features a blue and black camo and a light blue star behind the front tire.
The Operation 300 No. 54 has the United States flag design, with the front having the blue base and white stars, and the rest red and white stripes.
It’s very similar to Day and Larson, but the details are pristine.
The red jaggedy stripes and white stars on the dark blue background at the rear of the car look nice, though more stars in the front might’ve looked even better.
Truck Series
Not every truck has a special design this weekend honoring America’s troops, but those that do really stand out. The No. 4 J.F. Electric truck looks great with the flag stripes curved instead of straight.
Busch’s No. 7 carries the same scheme as Caruth, Day and Larson, all sponsored by HendrickCars.com.
The No. 15 Black’s Tire truck has quite a bit going on: blue base for much of the truck, a red zig-zag stripe along the side, blue and red camo on the bottom and a few white stars.
Hemric’s No. 19 has thin red stripes both vertically and horizontally on a blue and white background. It’s the same design Christian Eckes had last weekend at Dover Motor Speedway.
This one hits different for me. The red, white and blue camo design is perfect for Memorial Day weekend.
Some very different type of stripes on the No. 81 this week, with very thin lines separating larger chunks throughout the truck.
Joy joined Frontstretch in 2019 as a NASCAR DraftKings writer, expanding to news and iRacing coverage in 2020. She's currently an assistant editor and involved with photos, social media and news editing. A California native, Joy was raised watching motorsports and started watching NASCAR extensively in 2001. She earned her B.A. degree in Liberal Studies at California State University Bakersfield in 2010.
Oh goody. More companies wrapping themselves in the flag, to try and pander to fans. Stop trying to monetize the flag.