JR Motorsports yesterday announced that NAPA Auto Parts will be the full-season, primary sponsor of 18-year-old Chase Elliott, who will "run full time this season in the Nationwide Series" driving the No. 9 car "made famous by his father," former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Bill Elliott, according to Jim Utter of the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER. NAPA, which "enters its 19th season of sponsorship in NASCAR, is based in Atlanta, not far from the Elliotts’ hometown of Dawsonville, Ga." The pairing "seems a natural one for NAPA, but the company’s NASCAR plans had been uncertain" after the '13 season. NAPA most recently sponsored driver Martin Truex Jr. in the Sprint Cup Series but "left the Michael Waltrip Racing organization at the conclusion of the 2013 season" following MWR's race manipulation scandal at Richmond Int'l Raceway in September. NAPA President Dan Askey said, "Chase Elliott is a young, talented, future star in the sport and will represent NAPA well both on and off the track" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 1/7). JR Motorsports co-Owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. said, "The key in this is NAPA, and I feel privileged to welcome them to my race team after working with them so extensively earlier in my career. I recognize -- and I think Chase does, too -- the responsibility that comes with representing a company so significant in the lives of NASCAR fans. We welcome the opportunity and appreciate what NAPA means to this sport" (USA TODAY, 1/7).
