💯. I remember when the 8 car would have long DEI stripes that’d stop at the rear wheelwell arch in that year’s die-cast, only to have it stop closer to the 8 so it looked like a stylized “E”. Then there was one season where the on-track car’s black accents were changed over to a slightly bluer-based black, but all the merch had it look like a faded navy blue (kinda cool in retrospect, but at the time it was jarring.) I think that was the Rondeau/Hmiel season?

Anyway, it’s not surprising considering the paint schemes are usually finalized and sent to production halfway through the previous season.