NASCAR driver and Northern Virginia native Ryan Ellis had one of the most notable painted helmets in the garage during race weekend in Phoenix. And it was totally on-brand for the hockey fan and beer league player who shares a name with a famous Flyers defenseman.

Ellis’ bucket was painted in bold black, orange, and gold colors and featured graphics of the Anaheim Ducks’ D logo, the number 14, and palm trees.

The Bell helmet was financed by Ducks’ center Adam Henrique and painted by Noah Ennis of Shell Shock Designs and Paints.

So why did Ryan wear a tribute helmet of Adam Henrique — a veteran of 12 NHL seasons whose Game Six overtime game-winning goal sent the New Jersey Devils to the 2012 Stanley Cup Final? In short: they both love hockey and NASCAR, are in the same circles, and just thought it’d be really dang cool.

“Noah at Shell Shock paints our goalies’ masks,” Henrique said in an interview with RMNB. “He’s good friends with our equipment guys Matty (Matt Brayfield) and Muggzy (Chris Aldrich). They’ve always talked NASCAR with Noah since he’s also painted a bunch of drivers’ helmets too.”

The Canadian Henrique, whose father was a tobacco and ginseng farmer, became a part of the Ducks’ racing clique shortly after Anaheim acquired him in a midseason trade from the Devils during the 2017-18 campaign. Aldrich and Brayfield learned they had a lot in common with the star center after a chance interaction ahead of a game.

“My three brothers and I have always been into NASCAR since we were younger,” Henrique said. “A bunch of cousins and family have all been fans as well. We’ve been to a number of races as a family and always enjoyed it.”

Henrique recalled attending races at Michigan, Talladega, Phoenix, and California.

“I remember Adam coming in before warmups the year he was traded to us from New Jersey,” Brayfield said. “Mugsy and I were watching a race and he wanted to know who was leading. We quickly learned that he was a NASCAR fan like us. The three of us have had that bond in common ever since.”

As the three continued talking racing over the years, Noah approached the group on February 19 with an idea that would make them all feel closer to the sport.

“Noah told us about Ryan needing a new race helmet,” Brayfield said.

“Noah would paint it however we liked if I bought him the helmet,” Henrique said. “It gave us a way to get more involved in racing and in a fun way of course. But we also wanted to try and help out a young driver like Ryan working his way up which was pretty cool.”

For the design, the group already had some great concepts to pick and choose from with Noah’s past Ducks’ goalie masks. Noah had also recently created an Anaheim Ducks-themed racing helmet for Ryan Getzlaf in honor of the hockey legend’s 1,000th game.

The most creative addition to the bucket was an illustration by motorsports artist Kevin Paige featuring Henrique driving a Ducks-sponsored NASCAR into a pit spot where the equipment managers are doing a pit stop in what was described to me as “record time.”

Photo: @kevinpaigeart/Instagram

“The cartoon aspect of it is my favorite,” Henrique said.

I asked Henrique who had a better signature gap-toothed smile between him and Alex Ovechkin.

“The no teeth is a newer look for me but I think it works for a NASCAR pretty well!” he said laughing.

The group planned to meet up with Ryan Ellis at a Devils-Ducks game at Prudential Center on Saturday, March 12, to celebrate the helmet’s creation but the meetup had to be canceled due to Ryan’s career-best finish of 13th the week before at Las Vegas Speedway.

“I was supposed to fly to the game,” Ellis said. “I was excited to hand off the helmet there and meet Adam, see my sponsor Rich Mar Florists, and meet my friend AJ Galante of the Danbury Thrashers. At the same time, I had a last-minute opportunity come up and my sponsor Keen Parts/CorvetteParts.net was able to secure me a race at Phoenix with my new team, Alpha Prime Racing, after a great run in Vegas. So we decided to wear it while racing the Phoenix car.”

Ellis rocked the Henrique helmet and drove his number 44 Keen Parts sponsored Chevy Camaro to a 16th place finish after starting the race 35th.

P9 on long run. We good good, @TeamAlphaPrime, @KeenParts, @AVSpecialists_. pic.twitter.com/3AmUqTwnrG

— Ryan Ellis (@ryanellisracing) March 13, 2022

For Ellis, his second straight fantastic finish put him on pace to make the Xfinity Series playoffs if he had an opportunity to run every week with a full-time sponsor or more part-time sponsors. [Editor’s note: Companies that read us, contact us or Ryan here if you’re interested. It’s not as ambitious and hard to pull off as you think.] Ryan’s 13th place finish at Las Vegas also marked the third-best finish a driver has recorded for Alpha Prime Motorsports in 70 career starts. His fantastic driving caught the attention of FOX this weekend.

Gonna work every week to prove our success isn't a mirage! P13 and P16 to start the year.

Thank you @NASCARONFOX for including us in this segment – cool to get some pre-race mentions, and appreciate the kind words from @LarryMac28. @TeamAlphaPrime | @KeenParts | @fourloko | pic.twitter.com/Zo7KWuKYto

— Ryan Ellis (@ryanellisracing) March 14, 2022

“It’s really cool to work with a star NHL player like Adam, especially knowing he’s a fan of our sport like I am to his,” Ellis said. “We’ve only had a few races this season but we’re really gaining a lot of momentum within the sport and in media. It is rewarding to see companies and people like Adam support us in any way they can.”

Henrique is the fourth major hockey-NASCAR crossover Ellis has managed. RMNB became the first hockey blog ever to sponsor a NASCAR at Dover in 2016, Craig Laughlin’s foundation sponsored Ryan at Martinsville in 2021, and the Capitals hooked Ellis up with a signed Stanley Cup champions helmet.

“All in all just a fun thing for us to be able to do,” Henrique said, “but at the same time get to help Ryan out a bit too.”

Photos: Savanah Sanchez/Alpha Prime Team PR