DARLINGTON, S.C. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. loved watching the late Buddy Baker drive his “Gray Ghost” Oldsmobile to victory in the 1980 Daytona 500.

“It’s my all-time favorite paint scheme,” Earnhardt said of Baker’s car.

Earnhardt’s No. 88 Chevy will resemble Baker’s Gray Ghost in today’s Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, a race that will feature throwback paint schemes on more than 90 percent of the field.

Unfortunately for Earnhardt, he will not be around to drive the car. He is missing the rest of the season with concussion symptoms. Jeff Gordon, his former Hendrick Motorsports teammate, will fill in.

Here are the stories behind five other retro paint schemes to watch for today:

• Stewart’s No. 14 Chevy will be painted in the gold and red colors of Bobby Allison’s Coca-Cola car from 1970-73.

• Jeffrey Earnhardt’s No. 32 Chevy will feature the 1970s blue-and-yellow paint scheme of his grandfather, Dale Earnhardt Sr.

• Greg Biffle’s No. 16 Ford will look like the orange-and-white Hooters car that Alan Kulwicki drove to the 1992 Cup championship.

• Matt Kenseth’s No. 20 Toyota will be painted in the orange and yellow of Tide detergent. Darrell Waltrip, Ricky Craven and Ricky Rudd all drove what was known as the Tide Ride.

In Saturday’s action:

Sadler earns 1st Darlington Xfinity win: Elliott Sadler won for the first time at Darlington Raceway, holding off defending champion Denny Hamlin in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Sadler was second on the track “Too Tough To Tame” in this event in 2013 and 2014, trailing Sprint Cup star Kyle Busch both times.

Dixon wins IndyCar pole: WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Scott Dixon won the IndyCar pole , turning with a-record time of 1 minute, 22.5259 seconds at 147.008 mph at Watkins Glen International. It is Dixon’s second pole of the season and 25th of his career.

Hamilton on Italy pole: MONZA, Italy — Lewis Hamilton took the all-important pole position for the Italian Grand Prix, beating teammate Nico Rosberg’s time by nearly half a second. The pole sitter has won at Monza the past six years — with Hamilton himself taking three of those victories.

Schumacher wins Shootout: BROWNSBURG, Ind. — Tony Schumacher won the Top Fuel portion of the NHRA Traxxas Nitro Shootout at the U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway. Schumacher, an eight-time season champion, had a 3.717-second pass at 328.86 mph to beat Leah Pritchett for his second career NHRA Traxxas Nitro Shootout victory.