Jimmie Johnson and Team Lowe’s Racing will feature the first in a series of new color combinations on the No. 48 Chevrolet this season as a tribute to the American muscle car.

“Mountain Green” will run as the primary color in this weekend’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway. Mountain Green is one of General Motors’ classic color combinations from 1967. Team Lowe’s Racing chose green for this weekend’s race as a tribute to Earth Day which falls on raceday, Sunday, April 22.

“When we were researching colors, it just made sense that we used green for this weekend,” said David Sutphin, Sports Marketing Manager for Lowe’s.  

“We really looked at these throwback schemes as a way to create a design that would be clean and simple, yet stand out from the rest of the cars going around the track. The team and our fans have responded well to our primary paint schemes for the Lowe’s and Kobalt Tools cars that were inspired by the first generation Camaros with racing stripes.”

“We searched for photos of the classic cars for inspiration and worked with the Hendrick creative team to finalize the design.  Our plan is to continue to offer more of these combinations during the year so we always have something new for our fans to look forward to.  It’s in the spirit of the Lowe’s promise to Never Stop Improving.”

The color "Mountain Green" was only used by General Motors on its Chevrolet vehicles for one single model year: 1967.  It was available on every model of passenger car Chevrolet built that year except for the Corvette. While there are no exact records, Chevrolet estimates that 3.5 percent of Chevrolets were painted Mountain Green that year.

“I know we have some muscle car fans out there,” said Johnson, who owns a 1968 Camaro and 1949 Chevy truck. “I’m sure there are quite a few people who still have this color car. I think it’s a cool way for us to connect with those fans. I commend Lowe’s for doing something that highlights our history with cars and specifically Chevrolet.”

In conjunction with Earth Day, Lowe’s will make a donation to the 2012 Governor’s Joplin Habitat Challenge (http://joplinchallenge.mo.gov/). The initiative challenges Missouri’s major athletic organizations to help build 35 homes in the Joplin, Mo., area, which was devastated by tornadoes nearly a year ago. Lowe’s will donate a tree to every home built.

Fans can look forward to more versions of the now permanent two-color paint scheme in the upcoming races. 

“Mountain Green” die casts are available for pre-order now at the Team Lowe’s Racing Official Store. Pre-Order this die cast now and get FREE Standard Shipping! See store for details: http://bit.ly/HSnEbd