It happened!
No, not Denny Hamlin winning from the pole for the third race in a row, though he’s putting on a clinic of spectacular driving right now.
I’m talking about a movie-sponsored car winning a NASCAR race — something that hasn’t happened in almost exactly nine years. Hamlin’s Minions & Monsters-themed car took the checkered flag on Sunday (June 14); the last time a movie car won was Kyle Larson‘s Cars 3 scheme at Michigan International Raceway on June 18, 2017 (Hamlin’s win came just four days short of being nine years to the day). The No. 11 sponsor, King’s Hawaiian Banana Shake ‘Em Bites, are “inspired by Illumination’s new Minions & Monsters movie,” per King’s Hawaiian’s post on X.
That makes a milestone 10 movie schemes that have won NASCAR races in the sport’s history across a 23-year span. Out of the 120 films that have been sponsors, just 8.3% have visited victory lane; in 205 (and change) total entries spread between different drivers and multiple races, that’s less than 5%.
Kevin Harvick, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, 2003
Despite all the other movie schemes to win a NASCAR race being in NASCAR Cup Series competition, the very first was in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
In 2003, Kevin Harvick ran the No. 6 truck for Kevin Harvick, Inc., backed by Looney Tunes: Back In Action, at Phoenix Raceway. He rolled off second and proceeded to lead 80 of the 150 laps, beating Ted Musgrave to the line for his second-ever Truck victory.
Looney Tunes: Back In Action was directed by the legendary Joe Dante (Gremlins, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, The Howling), but it was the second Dante film after Small Soldiers to be featured on a paint scheme. It took 14 years for a movie livery to win a race, but the sample size by this point was still extremely small.
Jeff Gordon, Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith, 2005
Probably the most notable movie car to win a race for a few reasons, Jeff Gordon dominated the 2005 Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. The No. 24 was backed by Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith, the final installment of the prequel trilogy that showed how Anakin Skywalker turned to the dark side and became Darth Vader.
The eye-catching Pepsi scheme kind of emulated the hyperspace look we see when the Millennium Falcon makes the jump in the movies, and Yoda is leaping into action on the hood to complete the ensemble. Like Harvick, Gordon started second. The No. 24 was out front for 139 of the eventual 194 laps that afternoon.
Maybe Gordon had the power of the dark side that day, considering he was hanging out with Darth Vader, Jango Fett and a couple stormtroopers before the race.
Kasey Kahne, Click, 2006
The wins started clicking (pun intended) off for movie schemes as they ran more frequently. Kasey Kahne ran a car that popped at Michigan International Speedway in 2006 — sponsored by the Adam Sandler movie Click, the blue body was complemented by yellow numbers and red rims.
Kahne started on pole and led just 19 laps, and the race was abbreviated thanks to rain; only 129 of the scheduled 200 laps were run.
Kyle Busch, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, 2008
If you’ve read Reel Racing long enough, you know that Kyle Busch‘s car sponsored by the fourth Indiana Jones is my favorite movie scheme that’s ever hit the track (not to mention one of my favorite schemes, period).
Busch started sixth and led 169 of 367 laps at Darlington Raceway, dialing the No. 18 in and earning a pretty significant Darlington Stripe en route to the win.
The car ran to promote the special Mint Crisp M&M’s that were released to promote the much-maligned Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Maybe it’s because of nostalgia or because it was an early theatrical watch for me, but upon rewatching it a few years ago I don’t think it’s that bad.
I also love that the crew got in on the action with Indy hats before the race. The regular and raced-version diecasts of this car have always been exceedingly rare (and more so in the wake of Busch’s tragic passing), though I’m glad I landed the 1:64 for about $60 off eBay a few years ago.
Jimmie Johnson, Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted, 2012
Jimmie Johnson was out front for a whopping 289 of 400 laps at Dover Motor Speedway’s first race in 2012, winning there as he frequently did. This time, though, he was in a very cool teal-colored car promoting the third Madagascar movie and Lowe’s’ “Build and Grow” initiative.
He started second in this race, continuing the trend of these cars generally winning from the front row or close to it.
Johnson and crew also got some fun clown wigs to wear, which to my understanding is a reference to one of the characters wearing it in the movie (I’ve only seen the first two).
Dale Earnhardt Jr., The Dark Knight Rises, 2012
Dale Earnhardt Jr. broke the trends of only one movie scheme winning in any given year and of starting in the first few rows, as his No. 88 backed by Mountain Dew and The Dark Knight Rises rolled off 17th at Michigan.
This also snapped a four-year winless stretch for Junior and was the second time a movie car won in the Irish Hills, as the reigning Most Popular Driver led 95 of 200 laps.
The scheme was also the winner of a fan vote to determine which car Earnhardt ran in the race. Each one varied slightly from each other; one more focused on Bane, one on Batman and one on the TDKR logo; but the winner was the best of all three worlds, with the logo on the hood, Batman on the driver’s side and Bane on the passenger side.
That didn’t stop Lionel from making 1:24 diecasts of all four cars and a 1:64 set, which I have put away somewhere.
Ryan Newman, The Smurfs 2, 2013
I’d be willing to wager this is the most forgotten-about movie scheme that won a race. Ryan Newman had backing from The Smurfs 2 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2013, scoring his second-to-last career win after starting from the pole and leading 45 laps of 160.
I say this is mostly forgettable because it’s kind of a split scheme between primary sponsor Quicken Loans with the Smurfs design and characters tacked on along the bottom and hood (and decklid, I’m now noticing), but more so because it never had a diecast made like every single other car on this list. I presume it had to do with licensing, but in the case of race wins, I think exceptions should be made.
Jimmie Johnson, Batman v Superman, 2016
Johnson is the only driver to win more than once in a movie scheme. Four years after his Dover-Madagascar 3 triumph, Johnson and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Jr. were part of the #HeroFaceoff promotion for Batman v Superman, the long-awaited film pitting the Dark Knight against Kal-El.
So Hendrick Motorsports and Warner Brothers ran a promotion leading up to the race pitting Johnson against Earnhardt with their respective Batman and Superman schemes.
Johnson started 19th, led 25 laps and came out on top at Auto Club Speedway, and I was a big fan of Johnson and the crew wearing Superman capes before and after the race.
Kyle Larson, Cars 3, 2017
Michigan strikes again! The track is the only one with more than one movie winner, and its third entry on the list came in 2017. Kyle Larson was already good at Michigan, but he made it two consecutive wins at the track (and later that season, three straight) with a win in June.
More importantly, he did what 2006 Tony Raines and 2017 Clint Bowyer, Chris Buescher and Bubba Wallace couldn’t do in their own lightning-bolt-adorned cars — win in a Lightning McQueen-inspired scheme.
Larson’s No. 42 was easily the best of these scheme variations. He qualified on pole, led 96 laps and won the race by nearly a second.
I miss the burnouts in victory lane at Michigan.
They did make diecasts of this, though sans the Cars 3 branding. It probably got produced due to pressure from Larson fans and with how many people loved the scheme, though they kept the base design. It really didn’t take away from the finished product.
Denny Hamlin, Minions & Monsters, 2026
And our most recent entry, this past Sunday … BANANAAA!
Minions were huge in 2010 when Despicable Me came out, but they have endured! And, despite being 28 years old, I won’t lie and say they’re not funny. They still kinda are, despite the cultural oversaturation.
But I did get excited when Hamlin was announced to run this scheme in partnership with King’s Hawaiian. He qualified first, led 28 laps and managed a gap to William Byron while chasing down Christopher Bell (who was on strategy) in the closing laps.
It’s part of an unbelievable run for Hamlin, who might finally get his well-deserved championship this year. But we won’t get a race-win diecast of this thing, unfortunately, because of licensing stuff.
Elijah Burke detailed some red tape he and RFK Racing had to deal with a couple years ago when Brad Keselowski was backed by Despicable Me 4 at Sonoma Raceway in 2024.
Everyone @ Universal and tell them to cut some of the tape and let them make this diecast!
And you all know I love ranking stuff, so here’s how I’d rank these schemes:
- Kyle Busch, Indiana Jones 4
- Kyle Larson, Cars 3
- Jeff Gordon, Star Wars: Episode III
- Dale Earnhardt Jr., The Dark Knight Rises
- Jimmie Johnson, Batman v Superman
- Kevin Harvick, Looney Tunes
- Kasey Kahne, Click
- Denny Hamlin, Minions & Monsters
- Jimmie Johnson, Madagascar 3
- Ryan Newman, Smurfs 2
Adam Cheek joined Frontstretch as a contributing writer in January 2019. A 2020 graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, he covered sports there and later spent a year and a half as a sports host on 910 the Fan in Richmond, VA. He's freelanced for Richmond Magazine and the Richmond Times-Dispatch and also hosts the Adam Cheek's Sports Week podcast. Adam has followed racing since the age of three, inheriting the passion from his grandfather, who raced in amateur events up and down the East Coast in the 1950s.
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