r/NASCAR • u/realflags • 1d ago
Here Me Out, Some Variant of the late 2000s & early 2010s HendrickCars.com paint scheme should be Larson's Co-Primary Scheme.
I much as the current "Ricky's" scheme has grown on me in the last few years as it is the only scheme the rarely changes week to week and its unlikely to ever change.
With the release of Larson's Coke 600 scheme and looking back at the 2023 Darlington scheme, Larson's car could use a face lift from time to time. With all of the cool hats and helmets we often see Larson sporting, it would only be fitting to see the car evolve over time. Maybe Ricky's scheme could be the primary, with Crown Jewel race having some variation similar to his Coke 600 scheme or the older Hendrick Cars scheme we have seen in the past.
As well despite Larson running almost the fewest paint schemes a year then anyone else, when he runs an alternative scheme the graphic designers have been hitting it out of the park. All the throwbacks since 2022 have been clean, the Valvoline cars are clean, the Brickyard schemes this year and last fit the Next Gen car right, and even the cursed 2022 & 2023 Coke 600 American Flag scheme have been good. Its just surprising we don't see more changes in schemes since Hendrick's scheme designers are some of the best currently (minus Chase's car).
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u/sbillman18 1d ago
We bitch about teams having 38 different schemes and that no scheme is iconic, yet we want one of the few schemes that runs most of the season to change
100% feel like if this sub reddit exisited in the 90s we'd be seeing the same post for schemes like dales goodwrench car
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u/rbradyj13 1d ago
It’s one of the things that really solidified my fandom for Larson. Don’t get me wrong, I like him as a driver, but being able to identify his car instantly for most of the season locked it in.
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u/gimmicked Larson 12h ago
Any time anyone else runs a blue scheme that’s even remotely similar in color I get confused all race because I’m an idiot.
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u/ApartmentPowerful740 1d ago
May be in the minority, but I personally like the different schemes week to week. As a Gordon fan, the many variations of flames cars was fun. But having a consistent one isn't any issue either. I do prefer Kasey's hendrickcars, but I respect the tribute.
I agree with you so you know
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u/sbillman18 1d ago
I don't mind multiple schemes but it's nice to have drivers who do have one sponsor. All of my drivers have over the years ran probably more schemes in the field then anybody.
Also and this might be more because I don't care about lower series. But I tune in and not recognizing any of the lower series drivers because they run 40 new schemes. Like obviously guys like allgaier and Brandon Jones stick out but oof on a lot of those guys
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u/More-Perspective-838 11h ago
Even if Jeff ran a special car every week you could definitely tell which car was his. Dude had style.
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u/matito29 1d ago
Did you know that it’s possible for people to want “iconic” schemes and still not like that particular design?
I would love for every driver to have one design that they run for more than 30 races every year like it was 25 years ago. But I also don’t care for the Ricky Hendrick scheme, and seeing it on Larson’s Cup car, the HMS Xfinity all-star car, four different trucks in the same race, an ARCA car, and an NHRA car all in the same weekend drives me crazy.
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u/ArtMorgan69 van Gisbergen 1d ago
Glad you said this. There’s nothing iconic about Larsons boring scheme aside from it being ran every single week by one of the top drivers.
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u/KR15PY_KR3M3 Chastain 1d ago
I agree, leave this one alone. Maybe for a race or two a year you could do a special scheme (obviously he is with the Double stuff).
That’s kind of what I remember as a kid. When Jr didn’t run the Bud 8 scheme I was excited to see what his car looked like because it wasn’t changing as often as it is now
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u/sbillman18 1d ago
It'd be cool to do special promotions on the cars if Hendrickcars even does em.
Sorta like when bud did mlb cars or Toyota did those special promotions and put em on the cars
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u/KR15PY_KR3M3 Chastain 1d ago
Yeah I agree — would even prefer them to just leave it as Hendrickcars. Just do it like 4-5 times a year only so it’s kind of a big deal when Larson isn’t running his basic scheme
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u/PenskeFiles Cindric 1d ago
Oh this sub would be flipping out that every scheme is the same every week.
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u/sbillman18 1d ago
Oh absolutely but that was kinda the charm of the 80s-90s
Personally and this might be a hot take a lot of those schemes were pretty simple. But because they were what drivers ran every week for so many years, they just became iconic (for example kulwickis hooters and dales goodwrench, both good iconic schemes but very simple)
And it allowed things like the cartoon network cars to stand out because they ran a variety of schemes
While we will never get back to that era, I do hope we have more long standing sponsors come into the sport
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u/Celtics1424 Jeff Gordon 1d ago
It isn’t 1989 anymore. Teams have to run the various schemes because of having to piece together the season with multiple sponsors thus the multiple schemes. Larson is one of the lucky ones to have a consistent sponsor most weeks. Anyways William Byron has had Axalta since his rookie season and they’ve changed their scheme multiple times, some hits, some misses. The fans still know who he his. The current one is a hit, my point is fans should kind of get over the “one scheme a year” point, it’s outdated. If Larson runs his current Hendrick cars.com scheme his whole career, awesome. If he changes to this one that op put up also awesome.
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u/sbillman18 1d ago
When it comes to cup, It's not really about knowing who they are it's more about being memorable down the line.
Everybody will know who Byron is, chase and bowman because they drive for Hendrick and that is the gold standard in Nascar. They could drive 36 different schemes and they'd still be extremely known But when it comes to those three they've had zero memorable schemes because they keep changing schemes every year. There isn't one single standard car.
Whereas a scheme like loganos Gen 6 pennzoil and larsons Hendrick cars scheme will be the most memorable schemes from those eras or at least up there, since they lasted so long or will last so long.
I don't have a problem with flip flop cars you gotta do what you gotta do but I do wish there was more than like 5 cars who did that all year.
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u/Celtics1424 Jeff Gordon 5h ago
Drivers are made memorable by winning races and championships. Your three paragraphs about paint schemes is irrelevant noise.
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u/sbillman18 4h ago
I absolutely disagree, nobody is gonna remember chases 2020 scheme besides elliott fans.
The cartoon network schemes are loved by fans and yet they won zero races
The coors silver bullet only won 5 times
Red bull cars won literally twice and hardy anyone even remembers those wins. But they do remember the schemes.
There's tons of examples of schemes that people remember fondly that weren't extremely successful.
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u/CompleteUnknown65 1d ago
It's becoming like a scheme from the 90s that raced in all different series for multiple years which I think is cool. Like Goodwrench
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u/FarAwaySeagull-_- 1d ago
The HendrickCars.com scheme is one of my favorites in all of motorsports, it looks awesome. I don't want it to go away, and drivers can't have iconic paint schemes the way they did in the past if we change them often.
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u/Celtics1424 Jeff Gordon 1d ago
I think late career Kyle Larson in his late 30’s should run this car. Right now his current scheme is too recognizable and would be a mistake to move on from imo. However late career Gordon ran a DuPont black scheme with flames and JJ ran the Black Lowe’s for Pro’s/Kobalt scheme. Larson should do the same in due time.
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u/bourguignon7 Hendrick Motorsports 1d ago
Nah, just leave it as is. Almost every other car out there gets a new scheme week in, week out. Its great to have a car that looks the same almost every time.
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u/PenskeFiles Cindric 1d ago
Fan of Penske and the 2 car. Hate how it changes every week due to sponsorships.
Miss the days of Miller running the same scheme with the occasional one-off.
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u/penguins8766 1d ago
Nah. I prefer what they do now with Larson because it’s actually consistent week in and week out.
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u/GeetarMan9 2020 NCS Champion 1d ago
You know how we all bitch about not having a driver be noticed by "their" one scheme for a whole season. Larson has ran the same one since 2021. I think it's cool. Its old school. Sure. It could be changed and look cool too. But damn I love the consistency.
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u/MaxPres24 1d ago
Or we could leave it alone because it’s the only consistent scheme in the sport rn
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u/ITMAKESSENSE72 1d ago
It's a nice scheme, but I don't think Larson would want that much black on it.
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u/Resist_Rise 1d ago
Man, that blue car was sexy af. Shame it didn't get the result it deserved. I hope they run that livery again.
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u/Impossumbear Reddick 1d ago
Larson needs his own scheme, not someone else's. His current scheme is iconic on its own and should not change.
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u/usernamenotprovided 14h ago
I hate to tell you friend but that ain’t his scheme he drives now.
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u/Impossumbear Reddick 14h ago
Oh shit you're right lol.
Well, I stand behind what I said. That being the case, Larson needs something uniquely his own.
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u/Spinebuster03 1d ago
That scheme is so much better the normal 5 paint scheme got so much worse with the next gen number placement
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u/More-Perspective-838 11h ago
Neon yellow number would also work perfect on this, would be like a derivative of Jeff's pepsi cars.
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u/Alarming_Dream_7837 Green-Checkered Flag 1d ago
I whole heartedly agree. The 5 as it exists has run its course, it looked exceptional on the Gen 4 with Ricky and Brian, and it looked even better in 2021. The NextGen number placement kind of killed the flow of the paint, and it really is time for a change. And especially from my sales & licensing perspective - you can't sell the exact same diecast and merch 5 years in a row. I'm not in favor of doing a brand new paint every single year, but I do think a little NextGen refresh would go a very long way.
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u/reedspacer38 1d ago
I think we all feel that way. The current scheme is hideous and completely played out at this point
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u/TheRealCheeeser00 1d ago
I remember when Hendrick announced that Larson was running home and away firesuits, somebody made a concept "away" scheme and it was kinda like an inverted scheme with more white and the highlighter number. It looked great, kinda wish they did that.