Motorsports

The Movie Paint Scheme Chronicle, 2004

Well, I thought nine movies across 15 schemes was a lot for 2003. Turns out that 2004 outdoes it with 16 schemes (but still nine movies). This continues our early-to-mid-2000s trend of a boatload of new releases getting their moment in the spotlight with a NASCAR scheme (or two, or three, or four), and the […]

Published

1 month ago

April 30, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Well, I thought nine movies across 15 schemes was a lot for 2003.

Turns out that 2004 outdoes it with 16 schemes (but still nine movies).

This continues our early-to-mid-2000s trend of a boatload of new releases getting their moment in the spotlight with a NASCAR scheme (or two, or three, or four), and the last of a past release showing up (at least for a while).

This almost timed out well with the 20th anniversary re-release of Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith, but 2005’s article will be next week instead (by the time this publishes, I’ll have already gone to a showing of the movie).

As for ’04, it’s funny to me how much movie sponsorships seemed to specifically favor the Labonte brothers. A bunch of movies on prominent teams’ cars, like Hendrick Motorsports? Makes sense.

But just specifically those drivers seemed interesting to me.

The Passion of the Christ

We kicked off the 2004 season with the most irreverent, out-of-nowhere, bizarre movie sponsorship to ever hit the track: Mel Gibson’s controversial film The Passion of the Christ graced the hood (and roof, at least the sky design) of Bobby Labonte‘s Daytona 500 car.

Labonte started 13th and finished 11th.

There’s got to be a fun, wild story behind how this came together (presuming Joe Gibbs was behind it), especially because it’s not a full-car sponsorship yet has two of the most prominent panels of the car!

At least we don’t have a bloodied-up Jim Caviezel with the Crown of Thorns on the car. No, blood still features on a car in the same season. But in a much different context and just a few weeks later.

The Punisher

The aforementioned blood shows up on one of my personal favorites, purely because they somehow got away with this design on Brendan Gaughan‘s scheme for Bristol Motor Speedway in the spring of 2004:

Simple, but the background of red and black with the pop of the No. 77 and the Kodak logos works so well.

In just his sixth Cup start ever, Gaughan was running 11th with 19 to go, but spun in traffic and took damage. I remember reading a thing in NASCAR Illustrated about “The One that Got Away” with Gaughan, where he talked about the ’04 Food City 500 and talked along the lines of thinking he had the car to win it. He did salvage a 20th-place finish.

NASCAR: The IMAX Experience

This one ran before and after the Gaughan car (in early March and early May), with the No. 30 of Johnny Sauter taking on some underwhelming-at-best promotion of the first NASCAR documentary to hit the big screen.

The car entered at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Auto Club Speedway in March and May, respectively. Sauter started 30th or worse and finished lower than 20th in each.

NASCAR: The IMAX Experience is the first film I remember seeing in a theater (shoutout the domed screen at the Science Museum in Richmond, Va.).

Not the most showy scheme, but that documentary certainly put things more on the map.

Shrek 2

Across a two-week span, Joe Gibbs Racing had the wide, green features of Shrek across its Nos. 20 and 18 cars at Charlotte Motor Speedway. First, Tony Stewart had a more swamp-slime-themed car in the All-Star Race, where he started fifth and finished third.

Joe Gibbs Racing annoucned today they will team up with the new Dreamworks movie Shrek 2 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Bobby Labonte will sport the Shrek 2 colors in the Coca-Cola 600, and Tony Stewart will promote the move during the NASCAR All-Star race. pic.twitter.com/lkgPLA0Txj

— NASCAR 20 Years Ago (@NASCAR20YR) January 2, 2024

A week later, Labonte’s No. 18 had the big-ass face of Shrek on the hood in the Coca-Cola 600. I think Stewart’s car looked slightly better, as nauseating as the orange-and-green color combo was. Stewart also outperformed his teammate, as Labonte finished 13th but did qualify ninth.

More importantly, McFarlane made this absolutely bizarre set of Labonte and a firesuit-clad Shrek that I still can’t believe exists. (They also made one of Stewart and Donkey, but that one isn’t as visually disturbing).

Spider-Man 2

Thank god for “BROskeeWowWow” because I’d otherwise have no real photo of this car to link to in this article.

Terry Labonte ran a car for Spider-Man 2 at the summer race at Daytona in 2004, starting 10th and finishing eighth. I don’t have a ton to say about this one, other than that it’s good to see the trend of promoting the Raimi movies continuing and that it’s also kind of an underwhelming car.

I do love the creativity of having it look like Spidey is crouching on the hood of the car, but the rest of the design is so muted that there’s not much to write home about.

It’s easily the worst of the four Spider-Man cars promoting the original trilogy — a shame, since Spider-Man 2 is one of the best superhero films ever made — though the bar was already set pretty high with the Robby Gordon No. 31 in 2002.

Shark Tale

Cross-series for the first time in 2004, Shark Tale showed up in Busch and Cup Series races late in the season.

Kasey Kahne ran the blue No. 38 three times in the late summer and early fall, at Michigan International Speedway (started 10th, finished fifth), Auto Club Speedway (third / fourth) and Kansas Speedway (second / 13th) in the Busch Series.

Decent scheme, but oddly success-avoidant — Kahne made two starts in between the second and third races he ran in this car, and won pole both times. Just couldn’t in the Shark Tale car, I guess.

At Talladega Superspeedway that fall, Ward Burton took on the mantle of promoting the movie via his No. 0 NetZero car in the Cup Series.

Kahne’s car definitely pops more, but I’m a sucker for a really cool shark mouth design (see old warplanes or paint schemes like Bubba Wallace’s Warthog livery). Burton did nab a top-10 effort with a 10th-place finish.

Shark Tale is also probably the closest Martin Scorsese has ever gotten to being associated with NASCAR.

The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Where else but Kansas Speedway would schemes commemorating the landmark 1939 film run? The Wizard of Oz celebrated its 65th anniversary in 2004, though it appears that nothing specific was being promoted via these schemes.

A special box set didn’t drop until the following year, so it might’ve been subliminal promotion for that? The Internet, for once, yields no answers.

The only place I could find the schemes all (mostly) together was this tweet of Jeff Gordon‘s, Elliott Sadler‘s and Scott Riggs‘ cars recreated in iRacing.

In the early to mid 2000’s Nascar seasons there were races where multiple cars celebrated an event. In 2004, one of those races was the 2004 Banquet 400 at Kansas, where several teams celebrated the 65th anniversary of the Wizard of Oz.
Here they are, recreated for Winstel! pic.twitter.com/7OV9bbx2bz

— Winstel Racing (@WinstelRacing) October 26, 2024

My favorite, though, was Gaughan’s. This continues Gaughan’s trend of top-tier movie schemes that year. Gordon’s was fine, a decently-repurposed version of his normal DuPont scheme; Sadler’s a pretty neat take on the yellow-brick-road concept; and Riggs’ an adequate feature of the Tin Man.

But Gaughan’s had film strips with actual stills from the movie, all while retaining the Kodak branding, which was pretty sick.

Sadler came out the victor of the four cars, finishing fourth. Gaughan came home 10th, while Gordon finished 13th and Riggs 26th.

The Spongebob Squarepants Movie

A week after Kansas, our second cross-series promotion came in the form of The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie. In the Busch Series, Hendrick Motorsports fielded the Nos. 5 and 48 for Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson, respectively.

Of note, too, that’s three straight weeks (Talladega – Kansas – Charlotte) of movie cars hitting the track in the Cup Series.

Johnson, understandably, got our title character of ‘Bob on the hood. Busch was relegated to Patrick Star gracing his nose, but I’d argue that his scheme is better — I’m a big fan of when movie cars actually sort of set a scene, and we get the sandy landscape of Bikini Bottom around the skirts of Busch’s car.

Both cars ran at Charlotte Motor Speedway that fall. Johnson did better, starting 20th, but finishing third while Busch timed 18th and ended up fifth.

Less than 24 hours later, Casey Mears had the main event version of the SpongeBob cars, with his Cup scheme carrying the primary branding for the movie on his hood.

Mears qualified extremely well with a third-place effort, but ended up finishing 20th when the checkered flag waved.

Fantastic scheme, though.

The Incredibles

That’s two for Terry and two for Bobby in ’04. Labontes had a big year with movie schemes.

In the third-to-last Cup event of the season, Labonte had The Incredibles grace an all-black version of his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

Not the most involved of schemes, but we do get all the main characters of one of the best (and probably my favorite, besides Cars) Pixar film ever made on the flanks and hood of Labonte’s No. 5.

Kind of underwhelming, just like Terry’s Spider-Man 2 car, and it wasn’t great on-track either — starting 31st and finishing 32nd at Phoenix Raceway.

Seven drivers from this list will show up again next week, when we talk about 2005’s movie cars (including another winning scheme).

Follow @adamncheek

Adam Cheek joined Frontstretch as a contributing writer in January 2019. A 2020 graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, he covered sports there and later spent a year and a half as a sports host on 910 the Fan in Richmond, VA. He’s freelanced for Richmond Magazine and the Richmond Times-Dispatch and also hosts the Adam Cheek’s Sports Week podcast. Adam has followed racing since the age of three, inheriting the passion from his grandfather, who raced in amateur events up and down the East Coast in the 1950s.

Link

Motorsports

4-Time Champ Gordon Weighs in on Horsepower Increase – Speedway Digest

Four-time NASCAR Cup Series champ and current Hendrick Motorsports executive Jeff Gordon was recently asked on a Barstool Sports podcast about changes the sanctioning body is considering for the cars and he was ready with a well-considered answer. He doesn’t think the answer is as simple as increasing horsepower and bolting on softer tires, however. […]

Published

10 minutes ago

June 14, 2025

Your Sports Nation

He doesn’t think the answer is as simple as increasing horsepower and bolting on softer tires, however.

“Adding horsepower I think, at certain tracks like the mile tracks and half-mile tracks, I like – I think we’re too glued to the race track right now,’’ said Gordon, whose team drivers William Byron and Kyle Larson are ranked first and second in the championship standings. “So, adding power, I like. Adding as much power as I think maybe it takes would do two things: number one, cost, I hate bringing up cost but we’re talking about components that won’t last. Not just in the engine. So that’s one.

“And then the other is,’’ he continued. “it might make the cars harder to drive and the drivers like it more but that doesn’t mean that it’s going to be a better race. Then on the Goodyear side of things they’re trying really, really hard. I’ve learned a softer tire doesn’t necessarily mean more fall-off and that’s what we want.

“We don’t need a softer tire, we need a tire that has grip and then falls off where the driver and team have to manage the tire wear.’’

Link

Motorsports

Denny Hamlin gets waiver from NASCAR to skip Mexico City race following the birth of his son

Denny Hamlin announced Thursday that he will not compete in this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race in Mexico City, as he will focus on tending to his fiancee Jordan after the birth of their son on Tuesday. Hamlin will take a week off from driving the No. 11 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing after earning […]

Published

11 minutes ago

June 14, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Ryan Truex, the younger brother of 2017 Cup champion Martin Truex Jr. and the reserve driver for Joe Gibbs Racing, will drive Hamlin’s No. 11 in his place this weekend at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, while Hamlin’s team applied for and was granted a waiver from NASCAR to maintain their playoff eligibility. Per NASCAR rules, full-time drivers who miss a race are permitted to apply for a waiver to maintain their playoff eligibility in the event of an injury, or for accepted personal reasons such as the birth of a child.

“We are happy to announce the birth of our son. Everyone is doing well,” Hamlin said in a statement. “My main priority is to be here at home for Jordan and our family for the next few days when she is able to go home and we transition to life as a family of five.”

Hamlin, who had been on baby watch over the past two weeks, said earlier this week on his podcast Actions Detrimental that it would be very difficult for him to travel to Mexico if his son was not born by a certain point, citing the logistics and complications that come with international travel that would make it more difficult for him to go back and forth between home and the racetrack.

“It’s one thing when you’re in Michigan, you’re an hour-and-a-half flight away, there’s no customs, I fly right into the airport. It’s not that in Mexico,” Hamlin said. “So I certainly can’t leave until we have a baby.”

NASCAR at Michigan results: Denny Hamlin prevails in fuel mileage duel for his third win of the season

Steven Taranto

Mexico City will mark the first Cup race that Hamlin has missed since March 2014, when a sinus infection that compromised Hamlin’s vision sidelined him for a race at Fontana. Hamlin had made 406 consecutive starts after that point, a streak which will end on Sunday just after Hamlin made his 700th career Cup start at Nashville two weeks ago.

As for Truex, Sunday’s race in Mexico City will mark his first Cup start since 2014, when he ran most of the season driving for BK Racing with a best finish of 20th at Pocono. Truex, who has three career wins in the Xfinity Series, last attempted a Cup race when he failed to qualify for the 2019 Daytona 500 driving for car owner Tommy Baldwin.

Hamlin currently sits third in the Cup Series regular season standings, having wins at Martinsville, Darlington and Michigan to go with seven top fives and eight top 10s in 15 races. This season has seen Hamlin move to 11th on NASCAR’s all-time wins list, with his 57th career win at Michigan putting him just three victories away from tying Kevin Harvick for the 10th-most Cup wins all-time as he continues to pursue his first Cup championship.

Link

Motorsports

Backroads of Appalachia awarded $3.8 million dollar grant

EVARTS, Ky. (WYMT) – Backroads of Appalachia was awarded an ARC ARISE (Appalachian Regional Initiative for Stronger Economies) grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission. The organization’s goal is to use motorsports tourism to drive sustainable economic revitalization across Eastern Kentucky and Central Appalachia. The $3,809,250 grant will support the expansion of Backroads of Appalachia’s adventure […]

Published

26 minutes ago

June 14, 2025

Your Sports Nation

EVARTS, Ky. (WYMT) – Backroads of Appalachia was awarded an ARC ARISE (Appalachian Regional Initiative for Stronger Economies) grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission.

The organization’s goal is to use motorsports tourism to drive sustainable economic revitalization across Eastern Kentucky and Central Appalachia.

The $3,809,250 grant will support the expansion of Backroads of Appalachia’s adventure tourism corridor, connecting rural towns across Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. This funding will be used to develop infrastructure, launch regional workforce training programs, and further promote Appalachia as a motorsports and outdoor recreation destination, with a headquarters located on Sturgeon Creek in Owsley County, Kentucky.

“This is more than a grant—it’s a vote of confidence in the people and potential of Appalachia,” said Erik Hubbard, Founder and Executive Director of Backroads of Appalachia. “We are proud to showcase what happens when grit meets opportunity. With ARC’s support, we’ll build stronger roads—not just asphalt, but pathways to prosperity.”

Among the Backroads of Appalachia initiatives are:

· The build-out of a 199-acre site as a training facility for overland, off-road motocross, and rally car testing and design.

· Over 2,000 square feet of renovated space for training facilities and administrative uses.

· Additional square footage for maintenance workshops and storage.

· Support for RV parking and overnight stays.

· Water and wastewater infrastructure, along with 2,500 linear feet of access roads for emergency services.

For more information, visit www.backroadsofappalachia.org

Link

Motorsports

Golan earns first career FR Americas pole at IMS

Rookie Brady Golan secured the Formula Regional Americas Championship (FR Americas) pole at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday afternoon. After a rained-out practice session, Golan (No. 80 Attire / Toney Driver Development Ligier JS F3) set the fastest lap in qualifying, a 1m22.227s, to lead the field down the grid for race one on Saturday […]

Published

42 minutes ago

June 14, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Representing Toney Driver Development, Golan led a pair of Kiwi Motorsport teammates, as Jett Bowling (No. 22 Bullhorn / Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3) qualified second with a 1m22.410s lap, and Nicolas Ambiado (No. 55 Velox USA / Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3) followed in third.

Coming off a weekend sweep at Road America, Titus Sherlock (No. 31 Rayne Nutrition / Ronald McDonald House Charities / Crosslink Motorsports Ligier JS F3) qualified fourth for his Crosslink Motorsports team. Kiwi Motorsport driver Bruno Ribeiro (No. 01 Alfa Cem / Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3) rounded out the top five.

Just before the race, fans are invited to join the stars of FR Americas on pit lane for an exclusive fan walk, giving them an opportunity to meet the drivers, collect autographs, see the cars and even walk across the Yard of Bricks. Fans can enter pit lane near the Pagoda or at Gasoline Alley beginning at 12:30 p.m. ET.

Race one from the Indy SpeedTour will stream on SpeedTour.TV, and be broadcast live on SPEED SPORT 1. Live timing and scoring is available on Race Monitor, and additional news and updates from the weekend will be posted on the series’ Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

RESULTS

Link

Motorsports

Former Long-Time NASCAR Cup Series Owner Pleads Guilty to Financial Crime

What’s Happening? Ron Devine, the former owner of NASCAR Cup Series Team BK Racing, pleaded guilty for failure to pay payroll taxes in federal court Wednesday. Devine has yet to be sentenced. Former Cup team owner Ron Devine pleaded guilty today in federal court (the plea hearing had been postponed a few times). No sentencing […]

Published

1 hour ago

June 14, 2025

Your Sports Nation

What’s Happening?

Ron Devine, the former owner of NASCAR Cup Series Team BK Racing, pleaded guilty for failure to pay payroll taxes in federal court Wednesday. Devine has yet to be sentenced.

Devine, who owned NASCAR Cup Series team BK Racing, was accused of not paying payroll taxes and instead transferring over $2 million to other businesses under his control.
This is just the latest blow to the former NASCAR team owner, who has spent a lot of time in court since his team was closed in 2018. In January, an appeals court upheld a 2022 ruling that Devine must pay $31 million to the trustee who manages BK Racing’s bankruptcy proceedings.
Though the team supplied recognizable names like Corey LaJoie, Matt DiBenedetto, and Alex Bowman, with some of their first starts in the Cup Series, BK Racing is mostly remembered as a disappointment to fans. Throughout its history, BK Racing has failed to achieve lofty goals in the NASCAR Cup Series.
The team mostly fielded underdogs and drivers past their prime, only scraping together three top-ten finishes in 520 starts, finishing no better than sixth. This poor performance came to a head in 2018, and it shuttered its operation during the season. Its assets and Charter were sold to Bob Jenkins’ Front Row Motorsports.

What do you think about this? Let us know your opinion on Discord or X. Don’t forget that you can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

Link

Motorsports

NASCAR’s first Cup Series race outside US hits travel snags

MEXICO CITY (AP) — NASCAR’s first Cup Series race outside the United States was off to a bumpy start Friday with several teams yet to arrive in Mexico City because of travel issues in North Carolina. At least one chartered flight to Mexico City was grounded Thursday with an engine issue, leaving teams scrambling to […]

Published

1 hour ago

June 14, 2025

Your Sports Nation

At least one chartered flight to Mexico City was grounded Thursday with an engine issue, leaving teams scrambling to find alternative routes to get to Mexico. Some drove to Atlanta to catch a commercial flight.

But when the track opened Friday, many were not at Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez. Trackhouse Racing was among them — Daniel Suarez arrived Tuesday with some support personnel so he was not affected — but the communications director for the Cup team had been summoned to help unload the Trackhouse cars off the truck because no crew members were available.

The trucks came directly from last Sunday’s race in Michigan and arrived at the Mexico City track on Thursday.

NASCAR said only “a select few” teams aren’t on site Friday morning. But, it seems most are Xfinity Series teams based on a revamping of the weekend schedule.

“Due to two aircraft issues that grounded multiple race teams in Charlotte, N.C., on Thursday, NASCAR has adjusted the on-track schedule for this weekend’s activities at Mexico City’s Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez,” NASCAR said in a statement.

NASCAR delayed Friday’s originally planned Cup Series practice to later in the afternoon. NASCAR also pushed all Xfinity Series practice sessions from Friday to Saturday. And, the first of two NASCAR Mexico Series races will run earlier than originally scheduled on Friday.

The Xfinity Series will lose some practice time, with just one 50-minute session on Saturday morning, right before qualifying. There are other slight adjustments as well, but Cup teams will not lose any practice.

Link