Hendrick Motorsports ends partnership with Hooters due to ‘unfortunate and unexpected circumstances’

Hendrick Motorsports has ended their partnership with Hooters after the company failed to meet their business obligations with their organization.

On Monday, Hendrick released a statement on the matter, confirming the news. As Kelly Crandall of RACER noted, “There were rumblings earlier this season that Hooters was still going to be on Chase Elliott’s car but the company was having some business struggles. And then over the last few weeks you’ve seen the news articles about the shutting down multiple restaurants.”

Now, Hooters will no longer be part of Hendrick Motorsports, as they’ve been partnered with the organization since 2017, notably adorning Chase Elliott’s car multiple times throughout the last couple of seasons.

“Hooters has been a valued partner of Hendrick Motorsports since 2017, contributing to our shared successes both on and off the track. In recent months, however, Hooters has not been able to meet its business obligations to our organization,” Hendrick Motorsports’ statement read, via Crandall. “Due to these unfortunate and unexpected circumstances, and despite extensive efforts on both sides to identify a workable solution, it became necessary for Hendrick Motorsports to end the relationship. It has been a privilege having Hooters as a part of our team and we wish them the best.”

Moreover, the statement comes after astute fans noticed that the Hooters decals had been removed from Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet for Sunday’s Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway.

In addition, Hooters no longer appeared on the Hendrick Motorsports partner page on its website, and the Hooters Racing URL redirected back to the restaurant’s homepage. This came less than a week after at least 44 Hooters restaurants across 14 states permanently closed due to “pressure from current market conditions,” the chain told USA TODAY.

Now, it’s been made official — Hooters and Hendrick Motorsports will no longer have a partnership, but it seems they ended their relationship on good terms, at the least.

Chase Elliott, Hooters partnership dates back nearly a decade

For the past eight years, Hooters has served as a primary sponsor for Elliott. In 2021, it extended its sponsorship of Elliott through 2024. Beyond Elliott, Hooters’ involvement with NASCAR dates back to more than three decades ago. Hooters served as the full-time sponsor for Alan Kulwicki during his championship winning season in 1992. 

Elliott’s lone win this season (Texas) came in a race in which Hooters served as his primary paint scheme. It was his first win using the Hooters paint scheme and the first for Hooters since that 1992 campaign. 

“Hooters has been a great partner of ours for a number of years now,” Elliott said. “And it’s been a dream to pay respect to Alan Kulwicki. And do a ‘Polish victory lap’ in the Hooters colors. That’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time and have just not had the opportunity to do that. Came close a few times.

“As soon as the race was over, I was like, ‘Man, we finally got our opportunity to do it and pay respect to him and the partnership.'”

On3’s Nick Geddes contributed to this article.