Black: The hue of championships?

When you look at the last decade’s worth of Sprint Cup champions, from Bobby Labonte in 2000 through the four-year reign of Jimmie Johnson and the #48 team, you might be hard pressed to find a connecting factor. Indeed, the personalities and racing backgrounds of Labonte, Johnson, Jeff Gordon (2001), Tony Stewart (2002 and 2005), Matt Kenseth (2003), and Kurt Busch (2004) are all rather diverse. Each driver can tell his own tale of trials and triumphs before reaching the pinnacle of American motorsports, and only Gordon and Stewart, who each toiled the USAC ranks before making highly publicized swaps to stock cars, could claim a background that mirrored one another on any substantial level.

However, there is one minor detail that ties nine of the ten championship-winning rides together.

With the exception of Gordon’s championship at the wheel of a flourescent red flame-bedecked blue Chevrolet, each champion’s primary paint scheme prominently featured one mutual hue: black.

Labonte’s championship in 2000 was much more noted for the fact that his Interstate Batteries-sponsored Pontiac was a primarily green machine, but the then-Joe Gibbs Racing driver’s title brought to an end a drout for black that had dated back to Dale Earnhardt’s last championship in 1994.

After Gordon’s brightly-colored romp to the title in ‘01, Stewart outdueled Mark Martin at the wheel of an orange, white, and - yep - black Pontiac. In addition’s, Martin’s runner-up Ford featured a primarly black paint scheme.

Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch brought Jack Roush the final NASCAR Winston Cup title and the first title of the “Chase” era, in 2003 and 2004 respectively. Whilte the two immensely different racers enjoyed immensely different runs to the top, their Roush Racing Ford Taureses each sported paint schemes with significant amounts of black, with Kenseth’s machine being a near half-and-half mix of DeWalt black and yellow and Busch’s ride featuring a full black paint scheme offset by metallic gold marks of primary sponsor Sharpie.

Stewart took his second title in 2005, at the wheel of an orange and black Chevrolet Monte Carlo, and the next year, Johnson began his stint at the top that is still ongoing with his silver, blue, and black Chevy with flourescent yellow trim. Is it any coincidence that prior to 2006, Johnson’s primary paint scheme was always silver, blue, and red?

Okay, so you may be thinking, “Whats the point? No, there isn’t a point, its just the most pointless article I think I’ve ever read. Certainly the most pointless one I’ve read on this website.”

Aha, not so fast, my friend! There is plenty of reason why this is relevent to the season that will begin February 6 with the exhibition Bud Shootout at Daytona: Johnson’s Chevrolet will not only for the first time since the last time another driver won the title be without the black, but its primary hue is the exact opposite on the color wheel: white.

Certainly it will take more than just a change in paint scheme and the dropping of one color and the addition of the complete opposite shade to bring the #48 team’s reign to an end, but it is certainly worth noting, none the less.