Chase Elliott reminisces about getting in trouble watching his only..

Hendrick Motorsports unveiled Chase Elliott’s throwback scheme for the NASCAR Cup race at Darlington Speedway. Elliott will be paying tribute to Dale Earnhardt Jr’s 2014 Daytona 500 victory when he took his #88 National Guard Chevy to the victory lane.Elliott’s #9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will adorn the colors of Dale Jr’s iconic National Guard scheme. The #9 HMS Chevy is sponsored by Unifirst, with the company’s logo altered accordingly to match Dale Jr’s popular scheme.
Chase Elliott revealed the scheme to Dale Jr. and reminisced about the memories tied to the race. Elliott recalled that he was juggling school and racing in the Nationwide Series in 2014. He revealed that he stayed up late watching the race and got into trouble the following day for being late to school.The 2020 Cup champion said:
“When I first learned about it, the first thing I thought of was I got in trouble. I was late to school Monday morning because I stayed up all night watching you win this race.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was shocked to learn that Elliott was in school during that season. He replied:
“Really, you were in school?… Oh my gosh!”
NASCAR Cup Series most popular driver expressed his honor in running the scheme that has long been associated with Dale Jr. The #88 HMS Chevy driver was thrilled to see the livery and urged Elliott to park the car in the victory lane.
“I think I’m the one that’s honored here. Pretty awesome! It looks like it’s going to be
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Chase Elliott’s #9 Unifirst Chevy will hit the ground during the throwback weekend at Darlington Raceway in early May. The Goodyear 400 is scheduled on May 12th.
Exploring Chase Elliott’s 2014 NASCAR season
Chase Elliott was rising through the ranks of junior stock racing series in the early 2010s. Following his part-time schedule with Trucks in 2013, Elliott made his Nationwide Series (Xfinity) debut the following year, at the age of 18.Before watching Dale Earnhardt Jr. win the Daytona 500, Elliott drove the #9 JR Motorsports Chevy to a 15th-place finish in his maiden outing at Daytona. He took his first victory in his sixth start at Texas Motor Speedway and racked up two more wins at Darlington and Chicagoland Speedway.The Dawsonville, Georgia native was crowned as the series champion in 2014 and returned behind the wheel of his #9 Chevy the following year. He took one victory and was classified second in the standings in 2015.
Chase Elliott graduated to the Cup Series in 2016, teaming up with Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Hendrick Motorsports.

Chase Elliott and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the Hendrick Motorsports garage (Image from X)

“Never getting hype for your stuff ever again” – NASCAR fans annoyed by HMS’ ‘big’ Chase Elliott and Dale Earnhardt Jr. announcement

Hendrick Motorsports and Chase Elliott finally revealed their “big announcement” relating to NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr., and it’s safe to say that the fans weren’t very pleased.Hendrick Motorsports, on their X (formerly Twitter) account, shared an 11-second clip of a driver walking towards the camera. The post was captioned “Something’s coming. Tomorrow. 9 a.m. ET. Dale Jr. Download.”
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This led many fans to believe that former driver and NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. could make a return sometime later this season. Some fans even put forward the theory of Earnhardt replacing former champion Kyle Larson for the North Wilkesboro race when Larson takes part in the Indianapolis 500 race scheduled for later this season.
Larson ambiguously reacted to one such tweet with “🤔” emoji, intensifying the speculations.
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However, the actual announcement turned out to be Hendrick Motorsports driver and another former champion, Chase Elliott, paying homage to Dale Jr. HMS revealed that Chase Elliott will pilot the No. 9 UniFirst Throwback Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in the Darlington Raceway Cup Series race.The No. 9 UniFirst Throwback is an ode to Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 88 paint scheme from his 2014 Daytona 500 victory. Earnhardt secured his second and last Daytona 500 win with this exact paint scheme.The announcement led to many fans expressing their displeasure with the initial hype. One user took to X to write:
“Well that was a let down.”
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Another commented:
“
Dale Earnhardt Jr. reacts to Chase Elliott’s No. 9 throwback paint scheme
While some fans were left underwhelmed by the announcement, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was undoubtedly overjoyed. Upon catching the first glimpse of the No. 9 Chevy’s paint scheme, the two-time Daytona 500 winner uttered:
“Man, this thing looks frickin’ perfect.”
The former Hendrick Motorsports driver took to his social media handles shortly after and reiterated:
“I was thinking when we rounded the corner the car would be covered. It wasn’t covered and a curse word just jumped out. Damn, it was indeed beautiful.”
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In a separate post, the 49-year-old thanked Elliott, the HMS team and Elliott’s sponsors Unifirst Corp:
“Big thanks to @chaseelliott @UniFirst_Corp and @TeamHendrick for running this car at Darlington. Was a proud moment for all of us on the 88 team that evening in Daytona back in 2014.”
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Chase Elliott will sport the paint scheme on May 12 later this season. The 28-year-old driver is currently ranked sixth in the NASCAR Cup Series standings after five races.