It’d probably make more sense on a Camry, but who cares?
The Castrol livery is hands-down one of the most iconic racing liveries of the 1990s. From the JGTC Supra to WRC Celica, it’s widely remembered for appearing on some of the decade’s most dominant Toyotas—and then again in games like Gran Turismo. But the design is about to go in a new direction, as the classic livery is returning in an unexpected way. It’s coming to NASCAR, where it’ll adorn a Ford Mustang of all things, like a Trading Paints masterpiece you’d never think to see outside iRacing.
The Castrol tribute will appear on Brad Keselowski’s No. 6 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Mustang. RFK Racing will adopt the design for NASCAR’s Throwback Weekend at Darlington Raceway, which takes place May 10 through 12. The livery was chosen by Keselowski himself over some competing Castrol classics, which would’ve paid tribute to the historic John Force Funny Car or Casey Atwood stock car. While the Toyota Camry body style current races in the Cup Series, RFK uses the Ford Mustang’s body, and it’s there where the Castrol livery will appear.
It’s a strange departure for a livery that has traditionally—though not exclusively—been associated with Toyota, which used it recently on a WRC Rally2 GR Yaris. It has appeared on racing vehicles from other brands, including an IMSA Ford GT, older Honda superbikes, and on Jaguar’s Group C prototypes back in the day. Still, it’s strange for this iteration in particular to break into NASCAR at this point in time, and on a pony car of all things. As my editor Adam Ismail put it, “it’s like if McLaren suddenly decided to run fucking Tide or Corn Flakes next weekend.”
The old-school Castrol TOM’S livery will be far from the only retro design at the upcoming Darlington Throwback Weekend race, which saw Goodyear revive its historic sidewall markings for last year’s event. It’ll share the track with a rehashed version of the aforementioned Corn Flakes livery, though with Hendrick Motorsports branding in place of the cereal.
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