William Byron honors NASCAR great Jeff Gordon by bringing back his Darlington anniversary scheme

William Byron
William Byron's #24 Chevrolet Camaro

William Byron will run a special livery honoring NASCAR legend Jeff Gordon for the throwback weekend at Darlington Raceway. Byron's #24 Chevrolet will adorn the gold anniversary scheme, which Gordon debuted in 1998.

Byron first hinted about the throwback livery on Wednesday, April 26 when he posted video clips of Gordon's #24 Chromalusion 50th Anniversary car. Hendrick Motorsports confirmed the following morning that he will run a similar version of the car during the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway.

William Byron's current version of the scheme still retains the same primary color, however, there are visible differences. The #24 primary sponsor Axalta's logo takes up the majority of the space on the hood where Gordon sported the DuPont brand.

The next-gen #24 Chevrolet has NASCAR's 75th Anniversary logo, while the 1998 version celebrates the sport's 50th Anniversary logo. The prominent white Chevrolet logo still holds its place at the bottom of the hood.

Jeff Gordon also ran the livery as a one-off during his title-winning campaign in 1998. The NASCAR Hall of Famer won 13 points-paying races and grabbed seven poles en route to winning his third Cup championship.

He usually ran the DuPont scheme for most of the season, but for the Winston All-Star Race, he ran a special version.

This is the event where Gordon debuted the Chromalusion 50th Anniversary scheme on his #24 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Starting the race in fourth position, the Hendrick Motorsports driver was well on course to win the race, albeit a last-lap issue that dropped him out of the top 10.

After taking the white flag, the #24 car slowed down drastically to finish the race 12th in a 20-car grid. Mark Martin went on to win his first career All-Star Race.


How did Byron fare in the previous year's NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington Raceway?

Joey Logano and William Byron leading the field in NASCAR Cup Series Goodyear 400
Joey Logano and William Byron leading the field in NASCAR Cup Series Goodyear 400

In the previous year's race at Darlington, William Byron was on course to win the Goodyear 400 but an incident in the final stages of the race meant Byron had to settle for 13th position.

Sporting a livery honoring Jeff Gordon's 2007 season, Byron led 24 laps, having started the race in ninth position. He was on course to win for the first time at Darlington before Joey Logano sent him to the outside wall on the penultimate lap. The #22 went on to win the race, while the #24 driver finished outside the top 10.

Nicknamed 'the track too tough to tame', Byron will be keen to master the oval for redemption as NASCAR heads to the 1.3-mile oval on May 15.

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