![Dale Earnhardt Jr. To Drive The Iconic Budweiser No. 8 Chevrolet For A Limited Series Of Late Model Races In 2024 & 2025]()
![Dale Earnhardt Jr. sports]()
The Bud 8 is BACK.
Today,
Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Budweiser announced that he will drive the iconic Budweiser No. 8 Chevrolet once again for a limited series of Late Model Stock Car Races in 2024 and 2025.
This includes in the November 23rd late model stock race at Florence in South Carolina, as well as other races still-to-be announced this year and next:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DBbWTyPRTJB/
Of course, Jr. drove the #88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet for the last half of his career, but his most iconic ride will always be the #8 Budweiser car he drove for his dad’s race team, Dale Earnhardt Inc. It's a classic, throwback scheme that makes it perfect for Darlington, and I know fans will be excited to see him out on the track once again (he retired from racing full-time in 2017).
He stopped racing the Budweiser car when Earnhardt asked for ownership of the DEI race team from his stepmother Teresa Earnhardt, the widow of the legendary Dale Earnhardt.
Teresa wasn’t willing to give Dale ownership of DEI, the team lost NASCAR’s most popular driver, and ended up closing up shop just a few years later.
When Dale left DEI to go to Hendrick, his stepmother wouldn’t let him take his #8 with him either, forcing Junior to switch his car number to 88. And during his final season, his longtime sponsor Budweiser released a tribute video to honor Earnhardt Jr. before his last race in the NASCAR Cup Series – but fans quickly noticed that the commercial didn’t feature Jr.’s #8 on the car, or any of the trademarks of Dale’s DEI car that were still owned by Teresa, leading many to assume that Teresa refused to allow Budweiser to use the DEI trademarks in honoring Dale Jr.
The relationship between Junior and Teresa has always been a rocky one. But this past June, Teresa may have extended an olive branch to her stepson when she gave up the trademark to the #8, allowing Junior to claim it to use for himself for the first time since he left DEI.
Clearly, him owning this trademark creates a huge opportunity for him to race the #8 Bud car again, in addition to potentially creating throwback merch and plenty of other opportunities in that realm.
The Budweiser paint scheme will be nostalgic for many fans to see on the track again, and looks really cool in the photos they've shared of it so far, and I can't wait to see it back in action once again on the track (and hopefully victory lane).
