PER RICHARD PETTY MOTORSPORTS

STP and Richard Petty Motorsports with driver Aric Almirola are honoring The King’s 1979 NASCAR season, the season that many claim catapulted NASCAR into a household sport, at the Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday, September 4 with the throwback paint scheme mirroring Petty‘s 1979 Dodge Oldsmobile Cutlass.

“We started the season really good because we won Daytona to kick off the year,” said Petty. “In 1978, we didn’t win any races, and then we won at Daytona to start the year. That was one of our better years, and we ended up winning the Championship that year, too. That was our last Championship, so it was a breakthrough year of sorts after not winning the year before. Having the car throwback to that year is special because it was a good year for us.”
“I’m excited to run the 1979 STP paint scheme this year at Darlington,” said Almirola. ‘We had a lot of fun with the throwback theme last year, and it should be fun to throwback again this year. It makes the race so special. There are so many great STP paint schemes over the years, which makes it special for our team to run throwbacks. 1979 was definitely a breakout season when it comes to catapulting the sport into the mainstream, so it’s cool to recognize that this year with our throwback scheme.”