Hendrick Motorsports Sues Hooters Over NASCAR Sponsor Deal Gone Bad

Hendrick Motorsports has filed a multi-million-dollar lawsuit against Hooters in an attempt to acquire the sponsorship money the NASCAR team says it’s owed for Chase Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet.

Court documents show Hooters made a partial first payment of $45,000 in March. The restaurant chain, which announced in June it was closing “underperforming” 44 locations nationwide, has reportedly refused to pay the rest of the contract that Hendrick claims was supposed to be made in four payments. Hendrick Motorsports is suing for the remainder of the contract, which exceeds $1.7 million.

Hooters was Elliott’s primary sponsor at Atlanta and Texas. It also was scheduled to be his primary sponsor at the August Richmond race, but when the team was at Nashville in late June the Hooters decal had been removed from the associate sponsor position on Elliott’s car. At that time, Hendrick issued a statement saying Hooters was “not able to meet its business obligations.”

Hendrick filed the lawsuit July 30. According to the lawsuit, Hendrick’s contract with Hooters said the team was supposed to receive four payments of $437,500 on March 10, June 10, Aug. 10 and Oct. 10.

Hooters was one of Elliott’s sponsors from 2017 until June. He won at Texas this year with Hooters as his primary sponsor. It was the company’s first victory as a primary sponsor since the late Alan Kulwicki won at Pocono in 1992.