Stewart-Haas Racing has announced that two of its cars will race at Talladega this weekend in the Wonder Bread and Old Spice paint schemes made famous in “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.” Love it or hate it, it’s impossible to deny the impact that the 2006 sports comedy had on NASCAR. While there have been a few tribute liveries, a team has never gone all-in and rebranded as the fictional Dennit Racing team in all but name.
Ryan Preece will be doing his best Ricky Bobby impression while driving the No. 41 Wonder Bread Ford Mustang. His teammate Chase Briscoe will be behind the wheel of the No. 14 Old Spice Ford Mustang playing Cal Naughton Jr. at the superspeedway. As a sign of how much time has passed, Ryan Preece would have been 16 years old when the Will Ferrell-led movie hit theaters. Preece said in a statement:
“Talladega Nights is one movie that most people have seen and laughed with, and these really cool paint schemes will bring back those memories. Getting to have my teammate, Chase Briscoe, in the Old Spice car makes it all come together. The movie remains relevant after all these years, and there’s no better track than Talladega to work with your teammates. We’re going to have a lot of fun this weekend and I hope we get the No. 41 Wonder Bread Ford Mustang in victory lane.”
Chase Briscoe, four years younger than Preece, added:
“Talladega Nights is one of my all-time favorite movies, and I’m really glad that Old Spice was on board to come back to Stewart-Haas Racing. whose No. 14 car was once sponsored by Old Spice when it was driven by Stewart. We couldn’t do this Talladega Nights deal without them, and as a Tony Stewart fan who has gone on to drive his car, it’s really special to be the one to bring it back for all the fans.”
Both Preece and Briscoe have seen success at Talladega Superspeedway. Briscoe finished 4th in the spring race earlier this week and Preece finished 3rd there back in 2019. It won’t take much to beat Ricky Bobby’s disqualification at the track. However, I don’t think either of them will be in a foot-race with a French Formula 1 driver any time soon.