Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Axalta unveiled the new paint scheme for the No. 88 Chevrolet Wednesday during Champion’s Week in Las Vegas via the Axalta Racing Twitter page.
Earnhardt said that he had been anticipating the moment as much as everyone else because he had not seen the car in person beforehand.
Looking ahead to next year, he said, “We got a lot of good things going on for 2016. This is definitely one of them. We got a bright new race car with a great new partner, Axalta, so I’m looking forward to it.”
The official unveil of the #Axalta88!! pic.twitter.com/wEezZctdpI
— Axalta Racing (@AxaltaRacing) December 2, 2015
Hendrick Motorsports and Axalta announced in October that their primary sponsorship would be moved to Earnhardt’s car next year in the wake of Jeff Gordon’s retirement from full-time racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at the end of the 2015 season. Axalta will serve as primary sponsor for 13 races in 2016, an increase of three races. The coatings company and Hendrick also extended their 23-year partnership through 2018.
After the unveiling, Earnhardt said, “I really love how bright and beautiful the car is. I think it will stand out on the racetrack really well. It’ll be easy to pick out which is important to the fans. My family always tells me when the car is hard to pick out.
“This will be an easy one to find. Hopefully, it’s up front.”
