In celebration of Darlington Raceway’s ‘The Tradition Continues’ throwback race weekend, Richard Childress Racing unveiled paint schemes today for its #3 and 31 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams, to be raced in the Bojangles’ Southern 500 on Sunday, September 4. Both paint schemes will pay tribute to RCR’s first win as an organization, which came on June 5, 1983 at Riverside International Raceway. The cars will feature designs and stylized numbers resembling the #3 Piedmont Airlines Chevrolet that Ricky Rudd drove to Victory Lane at the now-defunct race track.
The #3 Chevrolet SS, driven by Austin Dillon, will feature the same red, white and blue color scheme of Rudd’s historic race car. American Ethanol will serve as primary sponsor.
The #31 Chevrolet SS, driven by Ryan Newman, will feature throwback logos from primary sponsor Caterpillar and a similar stylized number to Rudd’s victorious race car.
Other RCR special paint schemes for the Darlington Raceway throwback weekend including the #27 Menards Chevrolet SS, will be unveiled at later dates. Rudd, who retired from racing in 2007, scored not only RCR’s first victory that afternoon at the 2.62-mile road course, but also his first-career win. He held off the likes of Bill Elliott, Harry Gant, Kyle Petty, Darrell Waltrip and future RCR driver, Dale Earnhardt.(Richard Childress Racing), see images of the cars on the #3 team paint schemes and #31 team paints schemes pages.
