UPDATE: Wednesday, August 30, 2023 at 10:00 AM ET
In addition to the No. 43 and No. 45 Alpha Prime Racing teams paying tribute to the Petty Enterprises organization, the No. 44 car, which will be piloted this weekend at Darlington Raceway by Dawson Cram will also pay tribute to the Petty Enterprises team.
Cram will pilot the No. 44 paint scheme, which was utilized by Kyle Petty during the 2000 NASCAR Cup Series season.
News so good you could say it twice. ?@dawsoncram41 joins the team lineup this weekend at @TooToughToTame! He will honor @kylepetty and his 2003 colors.#SportClips200 | @XfinityRacing pic.twitter.com/g8ywFRgnkI
— Alpha Prime Racing (@TeamAlphaPrime) August 30, 2023
It’ll be an all-Petty Enterprises throwback weekend for Alpha Prime Racing at Darlington Raceway.
ORIGINAL STORY: Tuesday, August 29, 2023 at 12:23 PM ET
Although Darlington’s official throwback weekend now takes place in the spring, Alpha Prime Racing is going all out this weekend at the Track Too Tough to Tame.
The organization will throw it back to the year 2000.
The team’s No. 43 car, which will be driven by Ryan Ellis, will pay tribute to the late John Andretti, as Southern Elevator will serve as the primary sponsor for the car, which looks like Andretti’s iconic Cheerios car from his Petty Enterprises days.
For Ellis, who has done an incredible job of securing primary sponsorship in 2023, this is another brand-new primary sponsorship partnership. Southern Elevator has served as an associate sponsor up until this weekend.
“It’s been really cool to see how quickly this partnership has grown,” said Ellis in a team release. “We just started speaking with Southern Elevator earlier this year, and I’ve gotten to know their employees well. They have a phenomenal group of people there, and everyone seems excited about this partnership – both from the team side and Southern Elevators’. I hope we can give them a great run at Darlington and grow this partnership even more for 2024.”
Ellis is also pumped about his paint scheme for this weekend.
“It’s also extremely exciting to be running this scheme – especially in their debut. It’s one of the more iconic schemes from my childhood, and it means a lot to me to honor everyone involved with the original car this weekend.”
Rajah Caruth, who drives the No. 45 car for the organization, will pay tribute to the late Adam Petty. Circle, a longtime sponsorship partner of Caruth’s, will have a paint scheme that looks just like Petty’s No. 45 Sprint PCS paint scheme.
It’s a stunning tribute to two fallen racers and one of the greatest race teams in the history of NASCAR.
According to Alpha Prime’s creative director, Ryan Pistana, the idea to pay tribute to Petty Enterprises started with Caruth, who checked with Kyle Petty for his permission to pay tribute to Adam Petty at Darlington. From there, the team went all-in.
