Midwestern space-rock power trio Cloakroom are nowhere near as popular as they should be, but maybe that’ll change soon. Earlier this year, the band released the excellent new album Dissolution Wave, and now they’ve found an unlikely new way to promote that LP. Cloakroom aren’t getting radio play or showing up on late-night TV as of yet, but they’ve now partnered with racing legend Dale Earnhardt Jr., and they’ve got their very own NASCAR car.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. doesn’t exactly give off a big heavy-shoegaze vibe. Earnhardt has made a few cameos in music videos over the years — Jay-Z, Nickelback, Sheryl Crow — and he once got broken-up pop-punk band the Dangerous Summer to reunite and perform at a race. The Cloakroom relationship seems relatively left-field, but there’s a context for this. Cloakroom bassist Bobby Markos is the son of a racing historian, and Markos himself has a gig as a producer and consultant on Lost Speedways, a Peacock show about abandoned racetracks across the US. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the host of Lost Speedways, and that presumably has something to do with the beautiful vehicle above.

The new car, a Next Gen Camaro from Lefty Designs, is covered with the Dissolution Wave album art, and it’s got the logos for Relapse Records, Cloakroom’s label, and for the Empty Bottle, the hallowed Chicago venue. It looks cool as hell. Check it out below.

https://twitter.com/Myndfuneral/status/1498816442745110533

Do you think Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. are mad that they couldn’t make this happen first?