Daytona 500: The best and worst paint schemes for 2026
· Yahoo Sports
The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season will begin on Sunday at the iconic Daytona International Speedway, and 41 drivers will take the green flag hoping for a career-making win.
While drivers like Kyle Larson and Joey Logano will be easy to spot in their classic paint schemes, we have several paint scheme changes for the season opener - and not all of them came out well.
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Here are the best and the worst paint schemes for the 2026 Daytona 500.
The best Daytona 500 paint schemes:
Austin Dillon - #3 Bass Pro Shops/Winchester Chevrolet
We've been missing that splash of Intimidator silver on the iconic No. 3 Chevrolet, and this brings back memories of the classic Dale Earnhardt "silver select" scheme with just the right amount of Bass Pro orange added in. A home run for the #3 team.
Alex Bowman - #48 Ally Chevrolet
Ally schemes are always solid on Bowman's #48, but the added teal here looks really sharp.
Connor Zilisch - #88 Red Bull Chevrolet
It's a Red Bull scheme on a race car, which always looks good by default. If Max Verstappen fans are NASCAR-curious, Connor Zilisch will be an exciting young driver to watch in 2026.
Ross Chastain - #1 Busch Light Chevrolet
It just looks clean and cold, and makes me want to head to the refrigerator.
Ryan Preece - #60 Viva Towels Ford
Perhaps a polarizing pick here, but it gets points for being bold and very easy to spot on the track. The tribute to Greg Biffle's iconic number style is a classy touch.
The worst Daytona 500 paint schemes:
Tyler Reddick - #45 Chumba Casino Toyota
Very reminiscent of my circa-1996 creations on the classroom computer in Kid Pix. To be fair, it's hard to make something coherent with that multi-color primary logo.
Kyle Busch - #8 Zone Chevrolet
We're advertising a jalapeño lime nicotine pouch here, so naturally there's a bunch of lime green and... fire. Perhaps if the can of zone on the right wasn't radiating waves of lime green, this wouldn't have been so bad.
Look at the back of this thing.
Michael McDowell - #71 Modo Casino Chevrolet
I don't mind the flag design here, they just missed with the number design. It's a darker chrome, and during the Duel race on Thursday it was extremely difficult to read in a pack. Had they just gone with a white number here, and perhaps removed the off-putting pink and baby blue star, this would have been a banger for the Great American Race.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Best and worst paint schemes in the Daytona 500