By David G. Firestone
Well, it’s that time again! We have the annual Paint Scheme Awards for the 2023 season. As per the usual, every year, I pick the best and worst paint schemes and award them the Paint Scheme. This was done using the Driver Suit Blog executive committee for paint scheme analysis and consists of me and Driver Suit Blog assistant, my cat Zoe, and uses the following standards:
*Color Scheme:How the colors look, and how they work with each other.
*Overall Design:How good the design itself looks, is there too much, or not enough.
*Primary Sponsor Logos: How the primary sponsor logos look on the car
*Originality: How original is the scheme.
All of the above can work for or against a scheme, and all will be taken into consideration.
Let’s get the bad Paint Scheme Awards out of the way…
First, the Paint Scheme Award for Worst Regular Season Single Paint Scheme.
The nominees are:
Ross Chastain #1 Worldwide Express/Advent Health Chevy Camaro
Ross Chastain #1 Advent Health Chevy Camaro
Brad Keselowski #6 Solomon Plumbing Patriotic Ford Mustang
Ryan Blaney #12 Cherry Lime Body Armor Patriotic Ford Mustang
Riley Herbst #15 Mechanix/Monster Ford Mustang
Mike Rockenfeller #42 Sunseeker Resort Chevy Camaro
Tyler Reddick #45 Jordan Brand Toyota Camry
Tyler Reddick #45 Jordan Brand Toyota Camry
Tyler Reddick #45 Jordan Brand Toyota Camry
Tyler Reddick #45 Jordan Brand Toyota Camry
The 2023 Paint Scheme Award for Worst Regular Season Single Paint Scheme goes to:
Tyler Reddick #45 Jordan Brand Toyota Camry
The next Paint Scheme Award is for Exhibition or Throwback Paint Schemes. This category is a little different, as the Scheme will go to the best and worst throwback. For this category, all exhibition race and throwback paint schemes qualify automatically.
The 2023 Paint Scheme Award for Worst Exhibition or Throwback Paint Scheme goes to…
Kevin Harvick #4 Rheem “Chasing a Cure” Ford Mustang
The next award of 2023 is the Paint Scheme for Worst Paint Scheme Set of 2023. This is based on the total GPA of the individual grades for paint schemes. The nominees are:
Stewart Haas Racing #4 Ford Mustang
Stewart Haas Racing #14 Ford Mustang
Rick Ware Racing #15 Ford Mustang
Joe Gibbs Racing #20 Toyota Camry
Hendrick Motorsports #48 Chevy Camaro
Spire Motorsports #77 Chevy Camaro
Trackhouse Racing #91 Chevy Camaro
The 2022 Paint Scheme Award for for Worst Paint Scheme Set goes to…
Hendrick Motorsports #48 Chevy Camaro
Now after talking about the bad, we discuss the good. Here are the winners in the best category…
First, the Paint Scheme Award for Best Regular Season Single Paint Scheme.
The nominees for the 2023 Paint Scheme Award for for Best Regular Season Single Paint Scheme are:
Kevin Harvick #4 Busch Light Ford Mustang
Kyle Larson #5 Hendrickcars.com Chevy Camaro
Chase Elliott #9 NAPA Chevy Camaro
Denny Hamlin #11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry
The 2023 Paint Scheme Award for for Best Regular Season Single Paint Scheme goes to…
Kevin Harvick #4 Busch Light Ford Mustang
The next category is Paint Scheme Award is for Best Exhibition or Throwback Paint Schemes, and it should come as no surprise that the competition was strong this year.
The 2023 winner for best throwback is:
William Byron #24 Axalta Throwback Chevy Camaro
The final award of 2023 is the Paint Scheme for Best Paint Scheme Set. Like the Worst Set, this is based on the total GPA of the individual grades for paint schemes. The nominees are:
Hendrick Motorsports #9 Chevy Camaro
Joe Gibbs Racing #11 Toyota Camry
Joe Gibbs Racing #19 Toyota Camry
Stewart Haas Racing #29 Ford Mustang
Kaulig Racing #31 Chevy Camaro
Richard Childress Racing #33 Chevy Camaro
Rick Ware Racing #51 Ford Mustang
Joe Gibbs Racing #54 Toyota Camry
The 2023 Paint Scheme Award for for Best Paint Scheme Set goes to…
Hendrick Motorsports #9 Chevy Camaro
That’s it for the Schemes, next week, the Paint Scheme Leaderboard begins with Chevy!
The Driver Suit Blog 