Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Budweiser pass Chase Elliott, Hooters in NASCAR die-cast sales

In 2003, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s fourth season of full-time Cup Series racing, he won NASCAR’s annual Most Popular Driver award and didn’t give it up for the duration of his career, which ended in 2017.

But in a testament to his ongoing popularity, the man can still sell cars.

Especially pint-sized model cars, known in the industry as die-cast.

A ROOKIE AT 53: Who is this Tim Brown and what’s he doing in the NASCAR Clash?

Lionel Racing has released the top 10 best-selling die-cast cars of 2024, and a Dale Jr. late-model Chevy topped the list. And not just any late-model race car, but one carrying the paint scheme and logo of the sponsor synonymous with Junior during the bulk of his career: Budweiser.

The King of Beers was Junior’s sole Cup Series sponsor through the 2007 season, back when season-long sponsors were much more common than they would become in later year.

Next on the sales list came another nod to driver popularity combined with some nostalgia: Chase Elliott’s Hooters-sponsored car he drove to a win this year at Texas Motor Speedway.

Less than three months later, Hooters, scheduled to sponsor Elliott for a handful of 2024 races, had its partnership with Elliott’s team severed for business reasons — that made the Texas victory die-cast an instant collector’s item.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Budweiser fuels Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s NASCAR win over Chase Elliott