Alex Bowman surprises spotter Kevin Hamlin with perfect throwback Darlington paint scheme

Hamlin’s reaction is priceless. From the bewilderment to the sheer surprise and happiness. That’s what NASCAR’s throwback weekend is all about.

While Alex Bowman may not be on the track for that race, he’ll certainly be watching. It’s evident he has a special relationship with Kevin Hamlin, and he couldn’t be happier to honor him with a special paint scheme.

Josh Berry feels comfortable replacing Alex Bowman after filling in for Chase Elliott

At this point, Josh Berry is basically a member of Hendrick Motorsports full-time. He filled in for Alex Bowman last week, and will likely for the next couple of weeks as well. Bowman fractured a vertebra in a sprint car race this week.

With him missing 3-4 weeks from the NASCAR Cup Series, Berry is back in an HMS car and is looking to pick up where he left off. 

In addition to being Hendrick’s fill in, Berry’s a championship contender in the Xfinity Series as well. That has to help his confidence, not to mention his six weeks in Chase Elliott’s car. 

With some more Cup time ahead of him, Berry might be more prepared now than he has ever been for a race in the top series. He’s in good equipment, has a good pit crew, and that car he’s driving has been top-10 more times than not this year. 

“I definitely feel a lot, I feel like in a lot better place going into this having some experience in the Next Gen and obviously having a relationship with everybody at HMS from my opportunity in the 9,” Berry said on Saturday morning. “The way I look at it, you know, ultimately this is Alex’s race team and my job in this situation is to just try to keep these guys going and prepared and happy and just ready to rock and roll whenever Alex gets back. 

I think that was the mentality we took with the 9. And obviously, they come back and hit the ground running and that’s to me, I think that shows a little bit of me in that moment of keeping the morale and everything up high.”