Denny Hamlin, a three-time winner of the Daytona 500, will chase a fourth Harley J. Earl trophy with a special paint scheme honoring his long-time primary sponsor FedEx.
2023 marks the 50th year of operations for FedEx, and on Thursday evening, Hamlin stopped by FS1's RaceHub studios to do an official reveal of the car that he'll run in the 2023 edition of the Great American Race.
"We're excited about it. It's kind of celebrating the 50 years -- the birthday of FedEx," Hamlin said on RaceHub. "When Fred Smith drew up that paper saying he wanted to start a company that could supply packages overnight across the country. In April, it'll be their 50th birthday."
The scheme features a white base with purple and orange stripes down the sides and rear of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry race car.
The No. 11 on the sides of the car will be featured in a gold chrome finish, also signifying the 50 years that FedEx has been delivering packages.
On the hood is a bold "FedEx 50" logo. And on the roof of the car, alongside a purple No. 11, is a special 50-4-50 logo. Hamlin explained the significance of that logo as well.
"If you see the 50-4-50, that's about affecting 50 million people in the 50 years that they've had a company. 50 million people they've helped. We saw through COVID, they were getting vaccines all across the country. You saw during the State of the Union speech, the President talked about how FedEx is helping people get the resources they need.
"Helping world hunger. Just so many different things. FedEx really doesn't raise their hand and say, 'Hey, we're helping with this,' they just go and do it. They help so many communities. I've gotten to see it firsthand. Couldn't be more proud to represent them."
Here is a video of the reveal from FS1's RaceHub on Thursday night:
And on Friday, NASCAR on NBC shared a more in-depth view of the car on Twitter.
Overall, the design is a simple, yet clean and classy way to pay tribute to the company that has brought so much stability to Hamlin's career and the Joe Gibbs Racing organization over the years.
And with Hamlin's incredible Superspeedway racing pedigree, there is a better-than-not chance that the 42-year-old racer will be mixing it up for another Daytona 500 victory with this special-edition FedEx car in a couple of weeks.
The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 is scheduled for Sunday, February 19th. Television coverage for the Great American Race is set to begin at 2:30 PM ET on FOX. The race will also be available on radio via Motor Racing Network (MRN) or SiriusXM NASCAR radio.