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Happy Hour: Paint schemes and finding a new 'throwback' race to watch

Matt Kenseth's new-look DeWalt car (Getty).
Matt Kenseth’s new-look DeWalt car (Getty).

It’s time for Happy Hour. As always, tweet us your thoughts or shoot us an email at happyhourmailbag@yahoo.com if you want to participate.

DeWalt will sponsor Matt Kenseth for 15 races in 2017, upping its sponsorship of the 2003 champion. As you likely remember, DeWalt sponsored Kenseth as he won the championship with Roush Fenway Racing that season.

The company will become (as of now) Kenseth’s biggest sponsor in the wake of the news that Dollar General is leaving Kenseth at the end of the season. Joe Gibbs Racing unveiled Kenseth’s car on Thursday at Daytona and … it’s really ugly.

The black and gold is a good look – though we’re obligated to say that given the alma mater’s colors are black and gold. There’s no need for the lightning and the text in gray and red. We could handle the lettering by itself, but the lightning makes the car look way too complicated.

And since this is Twitter, our reaction to the car sparked another discussion about paint schemes. So let’s have it here.

Ryan Blaney’s No. 21 is easily one of the three best-looking cars on the circuit today, if not the best. Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Nationwide car looks sharp and we’re suckers for Brad Keselowski’s white Miller Lite car.

What do those three have in common? They fit the simple and clean mold. It’s why Kyle Busch’s retro M&Ms No. 18 looks good and Tony Stewart’s Mobil 1 car isn’t too shabby at all.

This email was too good not to print.

And they say it is not rigged , why Denny Hamilton was texting he had one when Tony looked in his window and seen it so he being down on texting and driving taught Denny a lesson , NASCAR should fine denny 250 thousand and check his … , not once but 7 times Denny loses on turn 11 , the most skill full turn other then pikes peak , oh sure some think old denny will drive for tony , you know i owe you one type off thing , so far for me to think it was bull along with everyone else . – Clyde

You just had to know there would a conspiracy theory following Sunday’s race. Sigh. Here’s what Hamlin said Friday about Sunday’s race.

“I didn’t let Tony win,” Hamlin said. “I made a mistake and didn’t execute good. Ultimately I made a mistake and thought we would maybe drag race to the line because we were in the center of the corner side-by-side and I thought this could be good. Once I saw him steer left, I knew it was over with. He had an opportunity to – if I’m in his situation, I probably would do the same. My biggest mistake I feel like is not recognizing the gap I had behind me. I don’t know whether Tony would have gotten there. I thought it would have been very close if you really wanted to carry the car down in there, whether he still would have got to me or not. I still needed to execute to make him make the decision. Instead I made the decision for him.”

There’s no debating this: Junior. NBC once again did the “NASCAR Throwback” Wednesday night with a replay of the 2001 Daytona July race that Junior won. It was, of course, the first Daytona race since his father’s passing.

Playing the 2001 race – and having fun livetweeting it – was cool in 2015 before NBC took over the rights to Sprint Cup Series races again. Replaying it last night felt, well, like a rerun. The NASCAR Throwback concept is a cool one. It just needs to be rotated among more races if it’s going to be a regular feature.

We say that knowing why the 2001 race is so popular. That fact isn’t escaping us. But there are many other races deserving of a throwback as well and we’re all for keeping the throwback concept alive. As long as the 2001 race doesn’t get played until its 20th anniversary in 2021.

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!