William Byron will adorn the AXALTA brand on the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry for a final time in the upcoming NASCAR Cup Series’ Chase event at Phoenix Raceway.
The news, which was made on Tuesday, October 13, will also feature Byron’s No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet entry sporting a special red, orange, yellow, and black-flamed paint scheme as part of AXALTA’s final coated scheme appearing for a Cup Series event. The scheme throws back to when the brand first appeared as a primary sponsor on the entry in June 2013 at Pocono Raceway with four-time Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon.
AXALTA will be rebranded under a new name for the 2027 NASCAR season, with an announcement of the new brand yet to be revealed. The new branding will also feature a new paint scheme ahead of next year.
AXALTA Coating Systems was branded from DuPont’s coatings division after being acquired by the Carlyle Group for the 2013 NASCAR season. Previously, DuPont had sponsored Gordon and the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet entry from 1992 to 2012. Beginning in 2009, Gordon sported the ‘Firestorm’-dubbed paint scheme, the one in which Byron will pilot this upcoming weekend at Phoenix, when DuPont would primarily sponsor the entry. The ‘Firestorm’ scheme appeared on the No. 24 entry from 2009 to 2011 before returning in 2013, the latter of which all occurred with Gordon, and for a one-race appearance with Byron as part of NASCAR’s throwback weekend at Darlington Raceway in May 2024.
Following Gordon’s retirement from full-time NASCAR competition in 2015, AXALTA sponsored Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 88 Chevrolet entry for the following two seasons. Dale Earnhardt Jr. drove the entry during the latter two seasons, minus 19 events in 2016 due to concussion-like symptoms as Gordon and Alex Bowman took turns piloting the entry for the remainder of the season. During the 2017 season, AXALTA sponsored Byron in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series division as Byron, who was campaigning in his first full-time season in the series, proceeded to win the championship. For the 2018 season, AXALTA sponsored two Hendrick Motorsports entries, in which the brand reunited with the No. 24 entry for Byron’s first full-time Cup campaign while also returning to the No. 88 entry in select events and as part of Bowman’s first full-time Cup campaign.
As a primary sponsor, AXALTA, which featured a variety of paint schemes, was piloted into Victory Lane in the Cup Series division 10 times, nine of which occurred while adorning the No. 24 Chevrolet entry. Notably, victories for AXALTA include the 2014 Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with Gordon and back-to-back Daytona 500s at Daytona International Speedway with Byron during the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
Byron, who is currently competing in his eighth consecutive season as a full-time Cup Series competitor for Hendrick Motorsports in the No. 24 entry, is currently ranked in 13th place in the 2026 Chase standings. Having achieved five top-five results and 15 top-10 results through 31 of 36 scheduled events, the Charlotte, North Carolina, native remains in pursuit of his first victory of this season with only five scheduled events remaining.
The AXALTA ‘Firestorm’ paint scheme on William Byron’s No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry competes for a final time this upcoming Sunday, October 18, at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, for the Freeway Insurance 500. The event’s broadcast time is slated to commence at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network, MRN Radio, SiriusXM, and HBO MAX.
