eNASCAR Throwback Night

By Justin Melillo Junior Gaming and eSports Editor, Traxion.GG

In May, NASCAR took to Darlington Raceway for its annual celebration of the history of the sport. Throwback weekend is one of the more popular weekends every year, and this being the 75th anniversary of NASCAR, the celebration was made even sweeter following the addition of 25 more of the Greatest Drivers to the existing list of 50 from 1998.

When you take a look at eNASCAR, the 75th celebration has already been underway thanks to Rise Esports and their No. 75 Chevrolet driven by Zack Novak. Novak, the 2019 series champion, joined Rise back in 2020 following his championship with RFK Racing. Throughout this 2023 season, that No. 75 has adorned many legendary liveries, from Dale Earnhardt’s classic black scheme to one of Richard Petty’s famous STP rides.

For once, however, Novak didn’t stand out in the crowd as the majority of the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series field took part in this year’s Throwback race at virtual Darlington Raceway on 16th May, just two days removed from the real-world event. Novak still had a mighty fine throwback, fittingly to the team he scored his title with, as he drove Jeff Burton’s No. 99 Exide ride, but as usual, with Sunoco branding onboard.

His teammate Jimmy Mullis, who has been running the “Spirit Of” cars this season, also took part, albeit wasn’t an actual throwback, but more paid homage to the greatest NASCAR members from the State of South Carolina. There were some other sort of throwbacks as well, where the Kanaan Esports duo had stock car representations of Tony Kanaan’s old 7-Eleven IndyCar and the Williams Esports guys were driving Formula 1-inspired throwbacks on stock cars to Nigel Mansell and his 1992 championship season.

The rest of the field stepped their game up, for sure. Novak wasn’t the only Jeff Burton/Exide inspired scheme—Collin Bowden took the 2000 lightning ride for a spin on his eRacr No. 69. Elliott Sadler Esports surprisingly didn’t throwback to their namesake owner, but

A Harvick paint was also found on the No. 3 of Jordy Lopez with an old Coca-Cola C2 scheme from 2004. More dated throwbacks than that included an Elton Sawyer throwback on the Front Row Motorsports’ No. 38 of Michael Cosey Jr—the same scheme that Todd Gilliland ran the weekend prior. Perhaps the deepest cut came from the other Team Dillon Esports Chevy as Tucker Minter minted Harry Gant’s Skoal Bandit No. 33, but with Funk Away as the brand on board.

There were some faux-backs from the RFK Racing camp as they ran the same two schemes they ran in the real-world event. The Letarte Esports guys both had schemes inspired as well, with the No. 36 inspired by Goodyear’s 125th anniversary and the No. 40 inspired by Kyle Petty’s 2007 Coke Zero 400 scheme. Kyle Busch was a popular man to throwback to, having both Joe Gibbs Racing rides returning to Busch’s years with Interstate Batteries. Jim Beaver Esports also had a Kyle Busch throwback for driver Malik Ray.

The other Jim Beaver car of Garrett Lowe was one of two drivers in the field with a throwback to themself. Lowe ran a similar scheme to the real-world Bandolero he drove as his first racecar. Michael Conti was the other self promoter. This being Conti’s final season, a self-throwback was acceptable for sure as he harkened back to his early days on the iRacing platform, a special event that he participated in 2011 that was coincidentally hosted