Alex Bowman to sport Jimmie Johnson throwback paint scheme at Darlington

Alex Bowman’s No. 48 Chevrolet for the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on May 12 will look quite similar to that of a car once driven by seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson.

Ally Racing unveiled the throwback paint scheme on Tuesday that Bowman will use at Darlington — a nod to the iconic paint scheme Johnson used during the early stages of his career at Hendrick Motorsports.

Honoring the No. 48 car's early seasons and the legendary success that followed during @teamhendrick's 40th season in #NASCAR.💙

Drop a 💪 if you're excited for these colors to race at the track "Too Tough To Tame."🏁 #NASCARthrowback pic.twitter.com/atxy9vTtaL

— Ally Racing (@allyracing) April 30, 2024

With a championship vibe on his hood, Bowman will look to find success at a racetrack which hasn’t been kind to him thus far in his career. Bowman has just two top 10s in 12 starts at Darlington and finished P33 in last September’s race.

Bowman, who last got to victory lane in March 2022, has been stacking quality finishes in recent weeks. He finished P4 at Bristol and at COTA, P8 at Martinsville, P5 at Talladega and P8 at Dover. Bowman sits ninth in the current points standings.

Alex Bowman not satisfied with P8 finish at Dover

He called his day at Dover just “OK,” admitting that eighth place isn’t good enough for him at a racetrack where he recorded five top 5s in his last six starts coming in.

“Both front fenders are broke, too, from the deal on pit road, so I’m sure that didn’t help anything. We were really fast in the middle segment of the race,” Bowman said after the race, via NBC Sports. “We were probably just a little too tight on the top. I couldn’t rotate the bottom like I wanted to, but I was too free on entry to really free the car up. I could make a lot of pace up top, but it just hurt the tires pretty bad.

“All-in-all, it was an OK day for our No. 48 Ally Chevy team. Eighth place here is pretty bad for me, but it was still a good points day and a step in the right direction. It’s a little more consistency than we’ve seen, so hopefully we can keep plugging away at it.”