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Though their importance has been diluted in recent years, the relationship between paint schemes, sponsors, and drivers still plays a key role in a driver’s brand and presentation on and off the racetrack. In modern NASCAR, no sponsor relationship has become more noted than that between Chase Elliott and NAPA Auto Parts. NAPA started their relationship with Elliott as an associate sponsor in one-off races run in the ARCA Menards Series and Truck Series before becoming the primary wrap for Elliott’s two-year stint in the JRM No. 9 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
When it was announced that Chase Elliott would replace the legendary Jeff Gordon following his retirement at the end of the 2015 season, it came as no surprise that NAPA would return to the Cup Series as the primary sponsor for the second-generation driver. With Chase’s new and revamped NAPA paint scheme getting revealed within the last couple of weeks, we here at the Daily Downforce thought it’d be fun to take a look back at some of Chase’s older NAPA schemes and see how they have evolved from humble beginnings to this bold new direction taking the track come 2024.
Here is The Evolution of Chase Elliott’s NAPA Paint Schemes!
Prior to going full-time Cup Racing in 2016, Chase Elliott would make 5 starts in the No. 25 NAPA Auto Parts Chevy for Hendrick Motorsports in 2015. He would make his debut at Martinsville that spring and wrap up this abbreviated campaign in the Southern 500 at Darlington in the fall of that year. You can see Chase’s No. 25 NAPA ride in the picture above. Like the new direction, this scheme was primarily blue with yellow and red accented stripes on the sides, similar to his Xfinity scheme at the time.
As weird as it was to see on the track, the first scheme for the No. 24 car in the post-Gordon era at Hendrick Motorsports actually looks pretty sharp. I like it, at the very least. This is unmistakenly a NAPA car, similar to the schemes Michael Waltrip drove back in the very beginning of his days at DEI (note the stripes on the side). It was a culture shock at the time but I like that they did something different rather than just trying to recreate some of Gordon’s most iconic paint schemes as they did with William Byron in his early stint in the No. 24 car.
There are only a few key differences to note between the 2016 and 2017 No. 24 schemes. Mostly, it’s the same (a largely blue car with stripes down the side and red accents around the number) but this scheme added a little more yellow to the mix. I like the yellow stripes on the side and running up the door to the roof. The only thing I didn’t particularly love about this scheme was the all-yellow bumper. Otherwise, it’s a pretty sweet scheme.
In 2018, with the rebrand from the No. 24 team to the No. 9 ride, we got to see the first version of the NAPA scheme that Chase would run for the next handful of seasons. What I like about this one is the introduction of white as a primary color. It ditched the red and stuck with yellow accents around the number on the quarter panels and this scheme just feels like a reboot to me, which I appreciate. This was the first scheme, in my opinion, in the era of Chase Elliott being HMS’s undisputed top dog.
The 2019 scheme is a more refined version of the 2018 scheme. The main difference here is that the blue on the hood was expanded to cover the whole hood and run down onto the quarter panel. The back end looks more or less the same. The only key difference is that the side skirts for the 2018 version were blue while in the 2019 version, they’re painted white.
They must have really liked the scheme from 2019 because, in 2020, it was virtually unchanged. You don’t see a whole lot of that in NASCAR today. It was nice to see a little bit of consistency with the NAPA car for this brief stretch.
Okay, I know: this is more of a special case. But I had to include it. This scheme is the same as the one above with the change of the neon yellow No. 9. All Hendrick cars ran neon yellow numbers on their door in the 2020 season finale at Phoenix to honor the retiring franchise driver in Jimmie Johnson. I know our friend from Out of the Groove, Eric Estepp likes to harp on the neon yellow being used on Ryan Blaney’s car when he drives Pennzoil colors. The yellow here also clashes with the yellow of the NAPA logo but, I don’t know. It doesn’t bother me as much with this one.
Regardless, this will always be the car over which Chase Elliott hoisted the Bill France Cup for the first time.
For the 2021 NAPA scheme, Chase Elliott basically kept the same scheme as 2019 and 2020 with only slight changes. The biggest change here is the more prominent use of yellow accents on the side. The side skirts in this scheme are yellow and blue as opposed to just white. Other than that, it’s nearly identical. Again, I applaud the consistency!
Okay, so with essentially the same paint scheme for the last three or four years, NAPA decided to shake things up some with their scheme for 2022. Now, they didn’t go crazy or anything. The front hood looks the same and white is still prominently used. With the number shift, they expanded the blue from the rear quarter panel and the yellow accents are larger. It’s also important to note the two yellow arrows pointing at the No. 9, a feature we’ll see carried over for the paint schemes still to come. One of the biggest changes this go-around is that the roof is blue and the No. 9 on the roof is white outlined with yellow accents.
With the 2023 scheme, we start to see some of the white that had become a hallmark of the No. 9 NAPA scheme since the team’s rebrand in 2018 start to get eaten away. This scheme is mostly blue (a sign of things to come?) and instead of two arrows pointing at the No. 9 on the door, there is just a single one emboldened. The roof in this scheme is also half-white, and half-blue, with a yellow roof number. I’m not too crazy about the roof number being yellow but at least it’s NAPA yellow rather than neon.
All of that brings us to the newly-revealed No. 9 NAPA ride for 2024. Honestly, I’m not sure how to feel about it. It’s different for sure. The blue which crept in, becoming a larger presence in the last couple of paint schemes is the primary color for this one. The stripes on the sides are all white, the only yellow being the arrow pointing to the 9, the NAPA logo (obviously), and the yellow roof number. It doesn’t look awful but, of the blue schemes, I prefer the ones from Elliott’s No. 24/25 era, personally.
That’ll do it for this run-down of Chase Elliott NAPA Schemes through the ages. What are your favorites? Be sure to let us know on all of our social media outlets. Also, keep it right here at DailyDownforce.com for all the latest news, silly season rumors, and driver discussions as we gear up for The Clash in 2024!
