“Never getting hype for your stuff ever again” - NASCAR fans annoyed by HMS’ ‘big’ Chase Elliott and Dale Earnhardt Jr. announcement

Hendrick Motorsports and Chase Elliott finally revealed their "big announcement" relating to NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr., and it's safe to say that the fans weren't very pleased.

Hendrick Motorsports, on their X (formerly Twitter) account, shared an 11-second clip of a driver walking towards the camera. The post was captioned "Something’s coming. Tomorrow. 9 a.m. ET. Dale Jr. Download."

This led many fans to believe that former driver and NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. could make a return sometime later this season. Some fans even put forward the theory of Earnhardt replacing former champion Kyle Larson for the North Wilkesboro race when Larson takes part in the Indianapolis 500 race scheduled for later this season.

Larson ambiguously reacted to one such tweet with "🤔" emoji, intensifying the speculations.

However, the actual announcement turned out to be Hendrick Motorsports driver and another former champion, Chase Elliott, paying homage to Dale Jr. HMS revealed that Chase Elliott will pilot the No. 9 UniFirst Throwback Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in the Darlington Raceway Cup Series race.

The No. 9 UniFirst Throwback is an ode to Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s No. 88 paint scheme from his 2014 Daytona 500 victory. Earnhardt secured his second and last Daytona 500 win with this exact paint scheme.

The announcement led to many fans expressing their displeasure with the initial hype. One user took to X to write:

"Well that was a let down."

Another commented:

"Never getting hype for your stuff ever again."

"Overhyped promo," one account posted.

Here are a few more reactions from NASCAR fans:

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. reacts to Chase Elliott's No. 9 throwback paint scheme

While some fans were left underwhelmed by the announcement, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was undoubtedly overjoyed. Upon catching the first glimpse of the No. 9 Chevy's paint scheme, the two-time Daytona 500 winner uttered:

"Man, this thing looks frickin’ perfect."

The former Hendrick Motorsports driver took to his social media handles shortly after and reiterated:

"I was thinking when we rounded the corner the car would be covered. It wasn’t covered and a curse word just jumped out. Damn, it was indeed beautiful."

In a separate post, the 49-year-old thanked Elliott, the HMS team and Elliott's sponsors Unifirst Corp:

"Big thanks to @chaseelliott @UniFirst_Corp and @TeamHendrick for running this car at Darlington. Was a proud moment for all of us on the 88 team that evening in Daytona back in 2014."

Chase Elliott will sport the paint scheme on May 12 later this season. The 28-year-old driver is currently ranked sixth in the NASCAR Cup Series standings after five races.