15 Great Rusty Wallace Paint Schemes

by Tom Jensen June 30, 2021

From his early years in NASCAR, throughout his Hall of Fame career, Rusty Wallace always had fantastic looking cars.

With 55 race victories and a 1989 NASCAR premier series championship to his credit, Rusty Wallace richly earned his spot in the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2013. Wallace excelled on short tracks and road courses and was very popular with race fans.

The St. Louis native also had something else going for him: He had a lot of great paint schemes over the years.

Here are 15 of our favorites, spanning his career.

In 1982, Rusty Wallace ran three premier series races driving John Childs’ Southland Fire Equipment Buick.

In the 1984 Daytona 500, Rusty Wallace qualified 27th, but finished 30th after a crash took him out of the race. Wallace went on to win premier series rookie of the year honors.

Rusty Wallace earned eight top-10 finishes driving for Cliff Stewart in 1985.

The 1989 season saw Rusty Wallace win six races and the premier series championship in this Raymond Beadle-owned Pontiac. One of Wallace’s 1989 cars is on display as part of the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s “Dale Jr.: Glory Road Champions” exhibit.

The first Miller Genuine Draft sponsorship for Rusty Wallace came in 1990, his final year driving for the Blue Max Racing team. That season, Wallace won the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, as well as on the Sonoma Raceway road course.

One of Rusty Wallace’s most recognized paint schemes was the black-and-gold Miller Genuine Draft livery on his Roger Penske-owned Pontiac, which he began racing in 1991. Wallace won 37 of his career 55 race victories while driving for Penske.

At Phoenix in 1996, Rusty Wallace’s Ford has a silver Miller anniversary paint job on the nose and hood. Wallace won five races that season.

Many Rusty Wallace fans were surprised when his team switched from Miller Genuine Draft sponsorship to Miller Lite in 1997.

The first victory for the Ford Taurus came in 1998, when Rusty Wallace won the NASCAR Bud Shootout at Daytona International Speedway in this car.

Driving this Roger Penske-owned Ford Taurus, Rusty Wallace finished third in the 2001 Daytona 500 behind Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2021).

For the running of The Winston in 2001, Harley-Davison was a featured sponsor for Rusty Wallace and Team Penske, who began the race on the pole before finishing 15th.

One of the best ever on the high banks of Bristol Motor Speedway, Rusty Wallace drove this Penske Dodge in the 2003 night race at the Tennessee track, where started ninth and finished fifth.

Patriotic colors were on Rusty Wallace’s Dodge when he finished 10th at Auto Club Speedway in 2004.

In the 2005 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Rusty Wallace’s Dodge was dressed in basic blue and ended NASCAR’s longest race in 10th place.

At Sonoma Raceway in 2005, Team Penske switched up and ran a white paint scheme on Rusty Wallace’s Dodge, which the Hall of Famer drove to one of his eight top-finishes that season.

Plan your visit to the NASCAR Hall of Fame and purchase tickets by visiting nascarhall.com/tickets.