Rick Ware Racing has been bringing the heat with their throwback schemes for this weekend’s annual “Throwback Weekend” at Darlington Raceway, and James Davison’s No. 53 Signing Day Sports Chevrolet Camaro is no exception.
Davison – who has made a total of seven NASCAR Cup Series starts this season, including last weekend at Daytona International Speedway — will be paying tribute to a fellow IndyCar/NASCAR crossover driver Tom Sneva, who made a number of starts in the NASCAR Cup Series and CART / CCWS (now NTT IndyCar Series) throughout the course of his 15-year career.
In eight NASCAR Cup Series starts, Sneva earned a single top-ten finish, when the Spokane, Washington-native finished in seventh-place in the 1983 Daytona 500, driving the No. 53 Simoniz BodyGard Chevrolet for Bay Darnell. Davison’s No. 53 will be designed to resemble the paint scheme from Sneva’s only top-ten finish in NASCAR.
Sneva’s career in CART / CCWS (now NTT IndyCar Series) was much more notable, with Sneva winning a total of four races throughout his 126-race tenure in the series. In 1982, Sneva became part of an exclusive club, by holding off Al Unser and Rick Mears to win the 1982 Indianapolis 500 for his fourth and final win in the series.
Davison will head to Darlington Raceway for the first time in his NASCAR Cup Series career, looking to best a career-best finish on Sunday, piloting the Rick Ware Racing No. 53. The NASCAR Cup Series has already visited Darlington Raceway twice this season, as the track hosted the return to racing for the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series in mid-May.