MOORESVILLE, N.C. – Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane…!
Nah…it’s the top Superhero paint schemes in NASCAR!
With the announcement of the new Batman vs. Superman paint schemes to be raced by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson at Auto Club Speedway in March, we took a look at the top superhero paint schemes in the sport. As you might imagine, there’s a pretty heavy influence from a certain 13-time NMPA Most Popular Driver.
From 2012, top entries come from The Dark Knight Rises campaign at DC Comics, ahead of the movie of the same name.
Earnhardt Jr. ran the scheme at Michigan and won with it that year, setting off a tidal wave of fan interest. As an adjunct to that scheme, a few more schemes (the Dale Jr. Batman car, the Dale Jr. Bane machine and the Dale Jr. Bat Symbol example) were produced for collectors, but never raced. They were part of the Mountain Dew Fan Vote.
In terms of Superman, Earnhardt Jr.’s history with The Man of Steel goes all the way back to 1999 when he raced a Superman-branded Chevrolet in Xfinity Series competition. Fast forward to the Sprint Cup Series in 2013, and he again carried Superman colors in back-to-back seasons. The 2014 version, raced at Michigan and complete with gold numbers, was clearly a fan favorite. The diecast became a top-selling item by season’s end.
Of course, the two paint schemes revealed today—Dale Jr.’s Batman and Jimmie Johnson’s Superman—will be added to this list. Now it’s time for fans to pick sides. Which one is your favorite? Do you grab a mask or a cape? Just which side of this #HeroFaceOff are you on, anyway?