Old-school race fans are going to be quick to pick up on how the Harrison’s/JCR No. 51 Chevrolet is running at Darlington on Saturday.
High, wide, and handsome.
Jeremy Clements will pilot the car with Harrison’s as the primary sponsor for the first time this season at NASCAR’s annual Throwback Weekend. On the car will be the iconic green-and-white paint scheme used by Harry Gantt in the 1980s.
Gant’s impressive career included 21 Cup Series wins and 18 Xfinity wins, with eight of those coming at Darlington. He was the 1985 IROC champion, and turned in the most unforgettable month in racing history in September 1991. That month, Gant won six total races, with four Cup Series wins and two Busch wins.
The stretch started at Darlington, with a win in the Southern 500. He doubled up at Richmond, sweeping the weekend, then did the same thing at Dover, taking the Saturday Busch Series race and winning Sunday’s Peak AntiFreeze 500 in dominant fashion, leading 326 laps and winning by more than a lap. He won again at Martinsville to complete the string. He very nearly added more, taking the pole position at North Wilkesboro, led the first 252 laps, and looked to be in position for another win before a faulty O-ring ended the streak.
Harrison’s is delighted to honor Gant with this year’s throwback scheme. Jeremy thinks it’s pretty special as well. And so far, race fans’ response to the look has been overwhelmingly positive.
“Getting to team up with Harrison’s and do the Harry Gant throwback is going to be a lot of fun,” he said. “We won the best scheme award two or three years ago now, and I feel like we can be a contender this year again.”
Clements wants to be a contender on the track as well. As the only place NASCAR visits in South Carolina, The Track Too Tough To Tame, is a place he’s come to love.
“It’s so special,” he said. “It’s so cool. Darlington is one of my favorite tracks to go to. That Lady in Black is tough. She’ll bite you quick. It’s so much fun to drive that track. It’s definitely the most unique track we go to: egg-shaped oval, tires wear out, got to run by the fence.”
Running out by the fence can earn you your Darlington Stripe - but you’ve got to be careful.
“You can use that quarter-panel, that right rear up some, but you don’t want to knock the tire off and flatten it,” Clements said. “You’ve gotta be wary of that.”
Knowing that, and more importantly knowing HOW to do it, is something that comes with experience.
“The thing is, you’ve got grip until you’re in the wall,” he said. “Every lap, it goes away little-by-little. Then you try to push it too much and bam, you’re in the fence. You cut a tire, and now you’re in the pits losing two laps. You’ve got to be on your A game every lap, every turn of that track of the race. It’s kind of a stressful track because you’ve got to be really in tune to what you’re doing, how much gas and brake you’re using every time. But that’s what makes it fun, too. It’s a driver’s track, it’s challenging, and that’s what we like.”
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