The first race of the 2022 NASCAR Cup season is almost here and preparations are well underway. Ahead of the new season, Chase Elliott and Hendrick Motorsports unveiled the #9 car’s new livery. Once again, he has linked up with long-time sponsor Hooters and they launched a classic livery.

In front of the Hooters restaurant at the Mall of Georgia, Elliott and a few Hooters employees unveiled the new car. With regard to the paint scheme, it is predominantly white in color, with an orange roof. The car also features the Hooters logo on the hood and on the side of the car.

This pretty much proves that the 2020 Cup Series champion is ready for action. Last year, he failed to defend his title, even though he enjoyed a reasonably strong season. Unfortunately, Elliott was no match for his teammate Kyle Larson at that time. Hopefully, for his sake, he manages to correct that oversight in the upcoming campaign.

Chase Elliott had a rough start to his preparations

When NASCAR revealed the Next Gen cars, they promised that the cars would be difficult to drive. As it turns out, they weren’t lying about it, and many drivers found out the hard way. Among them was Elliott himself, who endured multiple spins across the various pre-season test sessions.

During the latest test at the Phoenix Raceway, he spun twice in the same corner, in the same manner. To be precise, the rear end of the car stepped out from under him and he was helpless to stop the car. On the bright side, at least he managed to keep his car out of the wall on both occasions. The same could not be said for poor old Todd Gilliland in the #38 car. They were far from the only ones, as Kyle Busch also got an unexpected ballet lesson.

READ MORE: WATCH: Phoenix Raceway Takes No Prisoners as Chase Elliott and Todd Gilliland Spin During Testing