NASCAR Paint Schemes of the Week: Food City 500 returns to Bristol Baby!

This weekend the Food City 500 returns. The NASCAR Cup Series is returning to the concrete surface at Bristol Baby! While the race track is doing a bit of a throwback theme, we don’t have throwback paint schemes to look at today.

However, there are a number of great paint schemes this week, including new looks. A few sponsors return for this race and this race alone. Also, we have a bit of a theme going on with the Trackhouse Racing cars.

Bristol Motor Speedway is going to the concrete from the dirt for the spring race this year. It’s been moved up from Easter Sunday to a bit earlier on the schedule. The classic red and white walls return to The Last Great Colosseum. Let’s get into the best looks of the week.

Ross Chastain No. 1 Busch Light Fishing Chevy

After a few weeks with his other sponsors, we finally see the return of the Busch Light Chevy for Ross Chastain. This time it comes with the bass fishing design which can be found, along with three other designs, on new cans of Busch Light

Trackhouse Racing has taken the Busch Light sponsorship and made it their own with distinctive but iconic looks. This is no different. 9/10.

Kyle Busch No. 8 FICO Chevy

Another new sponsorship for Kyle Busch, this time with FICO, hope your credit scores are where you want them to be. Rowdy has had a rough start to the season and could use a solid showing at Bristol.

The blue and white design is simple but effective. It looks clean and that sponsorship is definitely visible for all to see. 8/10.

Noah Gragson No. 10 Bass Pro/Tracker/Ranger Ford

Stewart-Haas Racing seems to have hit on something with Noah Gragson and Chase Briscoe this year. Maybe it’s the fact Gragson is back with his old sponsors Bass Pro Shops, Ranger Boats, and Tracker Boats and ATVs.

This design is a lot like those paint schemes he ran at JR Motorsports in the Xfinity Series. With two top-10 finishes this year, two more than he had all of last season, Gragson is feeling good this year. 8/10.

Denny Hamlin No. 11 Mavis Express Oil Change Toyota

Well, it might be time to realize that Denny Hamlin is no longer the FedEx guy every week of the season. Mavis has once again put one of their brands on the No. 11 Toyota Camry XSE with Express Oil Change.

This is a much better design than we saw last week with the all-red Brakes Plus sponsorship. The red and white down the side won’t get messed up too bad if Hamlin hits the walls at Bristol this year. 7.5/10.

AJ Allmendinger No. 16 Mountain Dew/Cheetos Chevy

AJ Allmendinger is coming back to the Cup Series this weekend for Bristol action. He is riding in the Mountain Dew and Cheetos Chevy, which looks great.

The black with the pops of green and orange and yellow – what more could you ask for? This is like a video game paint scheme in the best way possible and it is my favorite look for the week. 9.5/10.

Todd Gilliland No. 38 Citgard Ford

Todd Gilliland hasn’t been talked about the last couple of weeks after a hot start out of the gate to begin the 2024 season. This week he has CitGuard on board.

Only twice has Gilliland raced on Bristol concrete in the Cup Series. He qualified P30 in both outings and finished P18 and P16 in 2022 and 2023, respectively. Great looking car to go get a career-best at Bristol. 7.5/10.

Ty Gibbs No. 54 SiriusXM Toyota

This week Ty Gibbs gets an alternate paint scheme with SiriusXM. While we usually see Gibbs in a black car for Monster Energy or He Gets Us, we now have a little extra color on the 54, and a huge “S” logo on the hood.

Gibbs finished P5 last time NASCAR raced at Bristol last year in the playoffs after starting P8. With how much he has knocked on the door of winning, he might have what it takes this weekend. 8.5/10.

Daniel Suárez No. 99 Jockey Outdoors/Bassmaster Classic Chevy

I told you Trackhouse Racing had a theme going on this weekend. Daniel Suárez comes to Bristol with his Jockey Outdoors and Bassmaster Classic No. 99 Chevy.

With a little more photo-realism than the No. 1 car, I’m not as big on this design. However, it is fun and makes me want to get out there with a pole and get a line wet. 8.5/10.

NASCAR returns to concrete at Bristol

After a few years of NASCAR on Bristol Dirt, which had its own successes and failures, it will be great to see a return of the Food City 500. There are few tracks that deserve to have multiple dates on the schedule, but Bristol is one of them.

With how hard these drivers will have to race for 500 dizzying laps on the high banks, it’s going to be a show. You are never alone on this race track, even when you have a big lead. Lapped cars pose a risk and it will be interesting to see who prevails at The Last Great Colosseum.