Race Weekend Central

NAPA to Move to Cup with Chase Elliott in 2016

Earlier this year it was announced that reigning Xfinity Series champion Chase Elliott would take over for Jeff Gordon in Hendrick Motorsports’ iconic No. 24 Chevrolet in 2016. On Tuesday, it was announced that NAPA Auto Parts will serve as primary sponsor for Elliott when he makes the move to Cup.

NAPA will serve as the primary sponsor in 24 Cup races each year from 2016-2018, including the Daytona 500.

Elliott, the son of Cup champion Bill Elliott, has set the racing world on fire since his Xfinity Series debut in 2014. During his rookie campaign, he scored three wins and the series championship.

Elliott currently runs full-time in the Xfinity Series, where he is third in the standings, and part-time in the Sprint Cup Series. His best Cup finish is 16th at Richmond. He is planning to run both the Sprint Unlimited and the Coca-Cola 600 in the upcoming weeks.

The news, announced at NAPA EXPO in Las Vegas, marks the return of NAPA to sponsorship in the Cup Series after a two year hiatus. The brand had most recently sponsored Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 56 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota, but dropped the sponsorship at the end of 2013 following the “team orders” controversy at Richmond, where Truex Jr. was stripped of his Chase position after alleged manipulation of the race by his teammates.

The No. 24 is currently sponsored by AARP’s Drive to End Hunger, 3M, Axalta Coating Systems, Panasonic, and Pepsi. Both 3M and Axalta have contracts with HMS beyond this year. Other sponsorship for the No. 24 will be announced at a later date.

About the author

Sean returns as a ringer in 2017, contributing once a month because he (gasp!) is living it up in the big city without internet. While he's not consuming race news on the Twitter app and reddit he's writing a ton of short stories and paying the bills by working in marketing.

Sign up for the Frontstretch Newsletter

A daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.com
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.

Share via