Jeff Gordon Unveils New Paint on Today Show

The casual NASCAR fan got a treat Thursday morning if they were tuning in to yet another edition of NBC's Today Show as Jeff Gordon showed up at the Rockefeller Center studio in New York City with what will be his 2009 No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet.

Changing permanently for the first time since 2001, the main differences you notice are how the blue on the rear of the car was replaced by the black, and how the flames changed slightly.

However, because it's pretty early, I'll let the press release do the talking for a moment:

Designed by popular motorsports artist Sam Bass, the new car features a sleek and stealth black body emblazoned with bold neon red, orange and blue flames.

"I'm fired up about our new paint scheme," said Gordon. "I've always loved cars with flames and the current 'Fire and Flames' paint scheme has been one of my favorites. But now I think we've improved upon that with the 'FireStorm' design and hopefully we'll be as fast on the track as the paint scheme makes us look."

The four-time Sprint Cup Champion will debut his new colors on-track at the 51st Running of the Daytona 500 in February when he celebrates his 17th season with primary sponsor, DuPont, and the 25th Anniversary of Hendrick Motorsports.

The NBC spot was definitely quick and to the point with Gordon -- who seemed to be feeling much better after a long Kansas weekend -- helping take the car cover off and then answering about 40 seconds worth of questions before the show went to commercial.

In that time, though, Gordon likely added a million or two to his earnings forecast thanks to die-cast model collectors across the country ready to get their hands on the new scheme. Heck, if you're one of them, you can already pre-order it.

My gut reaction on the car is kind of a hem-haw approach, mainly because I really liked the way the red and the blue complemented his current car, and this ride has the same feel as the Chip Foose scheme (wasn't a big fan) he ran in 2007 -- though it thankfully doesn't have the awful white numbers. The black, though, could be partly an homage to one of Gordon's biggest racing mentors -- the late Dale Earnhardt.

To be honest with you, I expected a bigger change for the scheme because of how drastic the change was in 2001 when he dropped the rainbow look for the flames, but beggers can't be choosers, I suspect. Regardless, Gordon fans have to see this as a good omen for 2009, as when he picked up the current scheme in 2001, Gordon went on to win the championship.