Chase Elliott not taking NAPA celebration, commitment for granted

In addition to special paint schemes for NASCAR Truck Series driver Daniel Hemric, NHRA Funny Car racer Ron Capps, and Brad Sweet, NAPA Auto Parts is running a special golden paint scheme on Chase Elliott's No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet for this Sunday afternoon's Wurth 400 presented by Liqui Moly NASCAR Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.

The "NAPA 100" paint scheme is aimed at celebrating NAPA's 100th anniversary and is the perfect way to honor NAPA’s rich history and impact on the automotive industry.

Back in 1925, NAPA was at the forefront of a transportation revolution, creating the roadmap for the automotive aftermarket.

One hundred years later, NAPA's impact is still being felt on a wide scale.

With the rapid adoption of automobiles well underway a century ago, more and more individuals across the country needed reliable repair shops to maintain their cars. NAPA stepped up, and NAPA continues to step up by embracing new technologies and advancements to keep drivers on the road.

Here's a look at the champagne gold and NAPA blue colors for Elliott this weekend at the track where he scored his most recent win back in April 2024.

Elliott spoke to the media on Wednesday about the 100th anniversary of NAPA, which also coincides with his own 10th year as a NASCAR Cup Series driver for Hendrick Motorsports.

"They've been a huge a huge piece of my career, a vital of the puzzle, to truthfully my career even becoming a career," Elliott, who has been partnered with NAPA since 2014, said. "Really can't say enough about them and what they've done for me and my family and everyone at Hendrick Motorsports as well.

"We've all kind of become a part of one another's families over the years, and it's been a really nice and natural fit. And it truthfully wouldn't even feel right to go race without them at this point, so that's a pretty cool thing when you have that type of relationship with a partner and the people within the company too. Can't say enough about them. I appreciate them and they always treat me like they appreciate me, which goes a long way."

Perhaps even more special, on the NASCAR side, is the fact that this is the 25th year of NAPA's involvement as a sponsor, having arrived on the scene in 2001.

And NAPA has been with Elliott for nearly half of that time.

In this day and age, it is becoming increasingly harder to retain some of the sport's long-time sponsors, and we've seen this alarming trend time and time again, even among the sport's top drivers and teams.

The fact that NAPA is still here, and the fact that they continue to serve as Elliott's primary sponsor in a majority of the 36 Cup Series races on the schedule every year, says more about their commitment than most realize.

Elliott realizes this, and he gave an extremely detailed and passionate answer about its importance when asked about it during his media availability.

"That's a great question," he stated. "I think there are a lot of components that go into a good partnership. I think from my perspective, it's making sure that I'm doing my part for them, and that covers a lot of areas. That's on-track performance, that's relationships away from the race track, and every company's a little different.

"NAPA has Genuine Parts, which is the kind of flagship company that is NAPA, but then they also have a lot of individual store owners across the country. So the longer I've done this, the more I've gotten to know a lot of the people across the country that make NAPA what it is, and when you really get to know everybody, it's a pretty small family.

"I think it's just making sure that I'm doing my part for all of them, not just headquarters, but for the mom and pop shops that carry the NAPA banner, on a weekly basis. I visit with a lot of them. I see a lot of them, whether it be store appearances or whatever it may be, but it's not about the appearances. It's about the relationships within them, and more than anything, just making sure they know I appreciate them.

"They've always let me be me, and like I said at the top of the call, I can't be more appreciative of what they have done for me and my career. I always try to express that, and I hope they know that, and I think they do, but it's not just one-sided. That relationship is healthy because they appreciate me and they make it known that they appreciate me.

"So all that does is just make me want to go to work harder for them every week, and those types of relationships are hard to come by, especially in corporate America, but fortunately they have a great leadership group and people who are bought into racing, not just on the Cup level, but they're still involved with Ron Capps over in the drag racing world, Brad Sweet in the sprint car world, Daniel Hemric over in the Truck Series.

"They're motorsports fans, and they're supporters of motorsports in general, and they're race fans, just like I am, just like you are, and so all those things I think are important. We want to make sure that we're doing our part as a team, and me individually, to make sure they're getting the value that we think we can bring them."

Sunday's Wurth 400 presented by Liqui Moly is set to be shown live on Fox Sports 1 from Texas Motor Speedway beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss any of the action! Can Elliott defend his 2024 victory in the special new NAPA 100 paint scheme?