Chase Elliott’s NASCAR Team Parts Ways With Hooters After Sponsor “Not Able To Meet Its Business Obligations”

Well, at least they went out on top. Hooters has long had a presence in NASCAR, sponsoring the late, great Alan Kulwicki during his championship run in 1992 and up until his tragic death in a plane crash in 1993. In fact, two Hooters executives were onboard the plane with Kulwicki and were also killed in the crash. More recently the restaurant chain has been a sponsor for Chase Elliott and his #9 car for Hendrick Motorsports, joining the team back in 2017 and serving as a primary sponsor for a handful of races a year. This season, Hooters was the primary sponsor for Elliott during the NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway back in February, and at Texas Motor Speedway in April. And when Elliott won at Texas, he managed to get the breastaurant chain their first Cup Series win since Kulwicki won at Pocono in 1992. But things haven't been so perky lately for Hooters restaurants, after the company recently announced the closure of 44 "underperforming" locations across the country. And this weekend at Nashville, eagle-eyed NASCAR fans noticed that their logo had been removed from Elliott's car, and scrubbed from the Hendrick Motorsports website's list of team sponsors. And today, HMS confirmed that they have parted ways with Hooters. In a statement to reporter Kelly Crandall, the team says that Hooters had failed to meet its business obligations to Hendrick - so it sounds like Hendrick wasn't getting paid: "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. 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." https://twitter.com/KellyCrandall/status/1807796747378315637 It's no doubt a blow to Elliott's team, which was scheduled to have Hooters on the car as the primary sponsor for one more race later this season. But it's also a sign of the times with so many companies struggling in a difficult economy as consumers cut back on spending. And the good news is that if there's one driver who shouldn't have trouble attracting new sponsors, it's NASCAR's most popular driver Chase Elliott.