If a 10-year-old ad can still have fans chuckling and commenting over it, you know you have hit advertising pay dirt. NAPA managed just that with an ad featuring Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott, whom it has backed since 2014. To the delight of fans, it also featured JR Motorsports co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr.
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As sponsor and driver, the Elliott-NAPA duo has pulled off some extremely effective marketing campaigns, but one of their most hilarious commercials came in 2015.
The video, which first aired a year after Elliott became the Nationwide Series champion, shows him and Dale Jr. discussing merchandising opportunities with a NAPA executive. The executive pitches a series of funny and increasingly bizarre products, which dismays Elliott. His benefactor, however, is thrilled with the ideas.
One of the products that the executive unveils is a “Chase Elliott Tire Gauge.” As a sceptical Elliott looks on with growing dismay, an enthusiastic Dale Jr. exclaims, “How could you say no to this?” Other products include washer fluid, a dipstick, and even a ‘Chase Elliot garden gnome’! Things end with the executive taking the covers off a blow-up doll that does everything but resemble Elliott.
The ad is once again doing the rounds with fans after it resurfaced on social media recently. A fan wrote below a post of the video, “I miss those days.” Another said, “Who doesn’t love this commercial @DaleJr is the best.”
Pure gold! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
— Lisa Sturniolo (@SturnioloLisa) January 31, 2025
In fact, Dale Jr.’s presence, as the marketing executive’s enthusiastic wingman, made the video much more amusing than it would have otherwise been. His little interventions are hard not to chuckle over. At one point, Chase is shown a “Chase Elliott car cover’ draped over a vehicle in the parking lot. “Who’ll buy that?,” he scoffs, to which Dale Jr. deadpans: “That’s my car.”
Fans loved this double act. “One of my favorites,” one wrote. “Thank you. It’s my favorite commercial,” said another.
NAPA clearly picked a winner when it decided to go with Chase Elliott.
Elliott and NAPA’s win-win relationship
NAPA left the NASCAR Cup Series in 2013 due to race manipulation controversies involving Michael Waltrip Racing. It returned in 2016 to sponsor the #24 Hendrick Motorsports entry that Chase Elliott drove at the time. NAPA was also Elliott’s primary sponsor in the Nationwide Series in 2014 and 2015.
He has rewarded the company greatly over the years by displaying strong proficiency on the race track. In 2022, NAPA signed a multi-year agreement to continue as his primary sponsor in the future.
Elliott said at the time, “None of this is possible without NAPA. I’m so thankful for their commitment to our team and their passion for what we do every weekend.”
He has won a Nationwide Series championship and a Cup Series championship with the brand’s consistent support. They will look to achieve more success in 2025 as they head into the first points-paying race this season, the 67th Daytona 500.
