Dale
Dale Earnhardt Jr. aboard the No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet. (Florence Motor Speedway Photo)
Touring Late Models

Back In Red: Earnhardt Jr.’s Return To The Bud No. 8

November 24, 2024

This weekend at South Carolina’s Florence Motor Speedway had a throwback feel to the early 2000s.

The reason? 

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was back behind the wheel of his famed red-colored No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet in Saturday’s South Carolina 400 late model stock car event.

Made to pay homage to his No. 8 Chevrolet he competed with in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2000-’07, the NASCAR Hall of Famer was ecstatic to have the opportunity to race in a fan-favorite paint scheme and reignite a once innovative partnership.

“I didn’t expect it to get this much excitement,” Earnhardt said. “I’m glad the fans are happy. There’s a lot of folks here today that are wearing our old Bud stuff. It’s good to see.”

 

While the car dates back to his entire partnership with Budweiser, the particular paint scheme was modeled after his 2004 primary scheme, a year in which he won his first of two Daytona 500 trophies and won five additional races. 

“Well, ‘04 was probably my best year statistically,” Earnhardt began. “We just had more speed than I even knew or realized. Just had great cars every week. You take all that stuff for granted when you’re young, but probably my favorite year.

“Had a lot of fun with Tony (Eury) Jr. and Tony (Eury) Sr. around that time. We had a really, really close-knit group of guys. They all were the kind of people you could count on no matter what was going on to help you,” Earnhardt continued. 

“That’s the great thing about life, really, is relationships. I hope we can do a good job in the race and we might run a Bud car again. You never know, we might do it again. We’ll see how Bud enjoys this and if they wanna do it some more.” 

Earnhardt flashed throughout Saturday night’s 250-lap race despite starting at the rear of the field. The driver of the No. 8 rose to second past the race’s halfway point.

However, Earnhardt was forced to retire with 31 laps to go while running second to eventual winner Treyten Lapcevich due to a mechanical issue.

Nonetheless, the paint scheme garnered plenty of positive attention both at the track and on social media. 

According to Sports Business Journal’s Adam Stern, JR Motorsports racked up “mid-six figures’ worth of merchandise in the first few days” following the announcement of Earnhardt and Budweiser’s renewed partnership in October.