![Dale Earnhardt Jr. Teresa Earnhardt]()
Dale Earnhardt Jr. has finally spoken about the #8.
Of course Junior spent the early part of his career driving the iconic #8 Budweiser car for Dale Earnhardt Inc., the team started by his late father. But when the Intimidator passed away in 2001 in the Daytona 500, it was his wife Teresa who inherited the team the responsibility of running DEI.
We all know how that ended: Dale Jr. eventually left the team to race for Hendrick Motorsports, and Teresa refused to let Junior take the #8 with him, so he was forced to switch to the #88.
And that was just one of many things over the years that have earned Teresa Earnhardt a spot (and maybe the top spot) on the list of most hated figures in NASCAR.
Over the years, Teresa has been fiercely protective of the DEI trademarks, even though the race team itself has long since shut down.
Aside from Dale Jr.’s battle with his stepmom over his dad’s race team, Teresa also filed a lawsuit against Junior's half-brother, Kerry Earnhardt, over his use of the Earnhardt name when Kerry announced plans to roll out a line of homes and furniture called “The Earnhardt Collection.”
Then there was the commercial that Budweiser released to honor Earnhardt Jr. before his last race in the Cup Series. 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 are still owned by Teresa, leading many to assume that Teresa refused to allow Budweiser to use the DEI trademarks in honoring Dale Jr.
And back in 2022 when Ross Chastain (who currently drives the #1 car) sported a Dale Earnhardt throwback paint scheme, his team was forced to change the font of the number on the car because it infringed on Teresa’s trademark from the #1 car driven by Steve Park at DEI in the early 2000s.
Yeah, pretty petty.
The trademarks for both the #1 and the #8 logos used by DEI were set to expire on June 3, meaning that if they weren’t renewed, Teresa’s control over those logos would finally be released. Dale Jr. could sell his own #8 merch featuring the car he’s most famous for driving, or teams could run Dale Jr. throwback paint schemes without having to worry about a lawsuit.
Well Teresa did file to renew the trademark…for the #1.
Now, I’m not sure how much Steve Park merch is still flying off the shelves these days. But apparently Teresa wanted to keep the trademark for the #1.
But as fans held their breath waiting for the deadline to renew the trademark for the #8, June 3 came and went – and Teresa never filed an application for the #8, meaning that as of yesterday, DEI and Teresa Earnhardt no longer own the trademark for Dale Jr.’s iconic #8.
It became pretty clear that Teresa was abandoning her death grip on the trademark last month, when eagle-eyed NASCAR fans noticed that somebody has already filed a new application for the #8: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The application was filed earlier this month by DEJ Holdings, and requests the trademark for use on everything from magnets and t-shirts to use on actual race cars and professional appearances from Junior.
Dale’s application is currently pending and has not yet been accepted, but now that the trademark is up for grabs, there’s no doubt he’ll soon be the owner of his iconic #8.
Until now though, Junior hasn't spoken publicly about his pursuit of the #8 trademark.
On today's episode of the
Dale Jr. Download, Dale finally revealed his thoughts on getting his iconic number back, while also remaining classy towards his stepmother (despite the fact that we know the two don't have the best - if any - relationship).
"We have noticed that, at least as far as I know, Teresa hasn't re-upped for that trademark. And Kelley and I both were interested in acquiring ownership of that.
And I just want to say that my feelings around this are pretty plain and basic. I either want Teresa to have it, and if she were to come in and re-up, I'd be totally comfortable and happy about that. Or I would like to have it. I would love it to stay either hers or mine, and not end up somewhere else.
There's one thing that I'll say about Teresa, is in terms of owning a trademark and protecting things like that, protecting our legacy and our family name, I have a lot of trust in her around those things. She's very smart, very savvy, always thinking. She takes some emotion out of business decisions and says, 'This is what's fair. This is what's right.'
So in terms of this, I would be completely fine if she reacquired the trademark. But if she doesn't, I would hate for it to just wander out into the middle distance, right, so I'd want to make sure that Kelley or I were able to get it if she's not interested in having that any longer."
Of course, he's not wrong. Teresa has been fiercely protective over the Earnhardt name and trademark. But the problem is she's also protective over Earnhardt family members and others, like Budweiser, using it to honor Earnhardt family members.
I know Dale says he would be fine if Teresa kept the trademark, but I also know that a lot of NASCAR fans are happy to see the #8 finally go to Junior, where it should have been for a long time.
