Restaurant chain Hooters has been a primary partner to Hendrick Motorsports and Chase Elliott since the days when his 9 team had a “24” on the door in 2017. Elliott even brought the famed sports bar chain back to Victory Lane for the first time in 32 years at Texas just several weeks ago.

But following a statement obtained by and Tweeted by Kelly Crandall Monday morning, Hendrick Motorsports would be parting ways with the long time partner due to Hooters failing to meet their business obligations to the team.

“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.”

Hooters was on the schedule to return for their third race of the season at Richmond later this year. That will no longer happen. They were set to be on the car for three races as primary sponsor for the No. 9 Camaro of 2020 Cup Champion Chase Elliott this season. They have already covered the 9 at Atlanta and Texas, where Chase broke that 32 year winless streak as mentioned previously.

Hooters

In the last month or so, it has become well known that Hooters was facing financial issues. Just this past month on June 25th, Hooters announced that they would be shuttering dozens of locations citing the current economic issues in the US.

Social Media blew up this past weekend pointing out that the famous owl logo was missing from the race car in its associate sponsorship placement as well as Hendrick Motorsports website’s Partners page.

Hendrick Motorsports is the most successful organization in the history of NASCAR and Chase Elliott is the most popular driver in the sport. Finding a replacement partner for the upcoming Richmond race in the Playoffs will not be difficult. One of their current partners will likely gladly take the spot on one of the most consistent cars in the field.