Dale Earnhardt Jr. officially announced this morning the return of his iconic #8 DEI Budweiser scheme, in which he is set to run a handful of late model races across the end of 2024 and into 2025.
Earnhardt originally ran the Budweiser scheme from 1999 through 2007 for his father’s team and secured multiple race wins with the iconic colors, including a 2004 Daytona 500 win.
When Junior shifted over to Hendrick Motorsports at the end of the 2007 season, DEJ and Hendrick did not bring over the Budweiser sponsor, but the scheme has became iconic over the years, intensifying in its popularity.
Hendrick and Dale Jr. would run a similar scheme in 2017 for the final race of Jr’s Cup Series career at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The only difference in the scheme was the main sponsor, featuring Axalta on the hood rather than Budweiser, but it was a fitting call back for Earnhardt Jr., nevertheless.
For the iconic beer brand in NASCAR, their weekly car sponsorship has dwindled drastically after the mid-2010s when Kevin Harvick shifted over to a partnership with Busch. Harvick would run a call back to his former sponsor last season, also running the Bud look at Homestead-Miami. But, Budweiser has seen a lot of success in racing between both of their drivers that they supported and they still support NASCAR to this day in a small capacity.
“It is an incredible opportunity for me to be able to reunite with Budweiser, and the No.8,” said Earnhardt Jr in the press 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.”
For fans of Dale Jr. and this iconic scheme, it is quite refreshing to see the partnership return.
This was an era for Dale that featured a lot of success between his two Daytona wins and a career high 3rdplace season finish in 2003.
While Junior found success at Hendrick, even capturing a second Daytona 500 crown in 2014, much of his racing success came during the Bud era and hopefully we can see more success to come.
In his one-off appearances within the Xfinity Series, Earnhardt Jr. has had some rather strong performances including his most recent Bristol run this year, were he finish in the Top 10.
At the moment, Dale Jr. doesn’t have any Xfinity dates lined up for the future, and with the given news of him racing these late model races, it may hinder on his availability to do so, but it would be neat to see the Bud #8 back on track in the Xfinity Series one more time if he chooses to return.
For Dale and Bud, the duo will return back to the track on November 23rd at Florence Speedway for the South Carolina 400 and the remainder of his dates that he will compete in is unclear at the moment.