Dale Earnhardt Jr. will wrap familiar colors over his Late Model Stock Car starting next month and into next season.
Earnhardt, who has been retired from full-time NASCAR Cup Series racing since the 2017 season, spends most of his on-track time these days behind the wheel of his short track car, averaging around four starts a year every year since 2021.
He also co-owns the CARS Tour, a Late Model touring division that operates in the Mid-Atlantic, where he makes several of those starts every year. His first race running the retro paint scheme will be the South Carolina 400 at Florence Motor Speedway in Timmonsville, South Carolina, where he has raced the most since 2021.
This was also the track he spent most of his formative years racing Late Models as a teenager and twentysomething in the 1990s. Earnhardt will also race these colors in select 2025 starts as well.
“It is an incredible opportunity for me to be able to reunite with Budweiser, and the No. 8,” said Earnhardt Jr. in a release. “Budweiser and I had some great memories with that iconic scheme and number. We’ve always supported each other over the years. It’s going to be really special for me to be able to represent that brand on the racetrack again.”
Earnhardt and his brand team has worked over the past year to acquire the font he used back then from stepmother Teresa Earnhardt. Her copyright expired over the summer and Dale Jr. acquired it.
Earnhardt indicated over the summer exactly what he wanted to do with the font, once he applied for it too.
“I would not be interested in spamming the NASCAR ecosystem with vintage, retro 8 gear,” said Earnhardt. “I know that there are fans that would like to have some things, so maybe would do a small batch of select – one shirt, one hat. Just figure out something sort of nice and tasteful.”
He said then that it would include some Late Model races as well.
“I would probably have interest in using the number in the CARS Tour races if Kelley would be fine with this. We have other owners in the JR Motorsports building that would have to sign off on ever using that number in the Xfinity (Series) level. But I would be wanting to activate it, I’d be wanting to get it out there and get it going.”
They are indeed about to get it going and with the support of Anheuser-Busch as well.
“There are names that when mentioned, draw on the significance of their place in American history. Among them, Budweiser, and Earnhardt,” said Matt Davis, Vice-President of Partnerships at Anheuser- Busch. “This return to the racetrack alongside Dale with the Bud King of Beers paint scheme is another chapter in Anheuser-Busch’s long and storied sports history.”
At present time, Earnhardt is not expected to make any NASCAR national touring starts either.
