Dale Earnhardt Jr. weighs in on return of iconic Budweiser paint scheme in light of No. 8 trademark expiring

This week Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced that he is bringing back the iconic No. 8 Budweiser car and fans everywhere rejoiced at the news. NASCAR isn’t the same without that legendary paint scheme.

Now, the Budweiser deal is only for select Late Model Stock races. He will have a start at Florence coming up later this season. But the fact that Dale Earnhardt Jr. now owns the No. 8 DEI font trademark, that’s awesome.

Dale Jr. took the time to explain how it came to be on his podcast. He also wanted to set the record straight on Teresa Earnhardt, his father’s widow.

“I never thought that uh, I never thought that the trademark would not be renewed and was a little bit, I was certainly surprised when Teresa decided not to renew that trademark,” Earnhardt explained. “Not sure why, but you know, I, so we applied. I’ve said this on the show before, listen, one of the things that I really appreciate about Teresa is her ability and awareness in terms of protecting trademarks and likeness. She was always really great at making sure that she took really good care of those things when it came to dad and when it came to me or DEI, all of those things, right?”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. on making merch for No. 8 Bud car

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is very appreciative of Teresa. She has made sure that Dale Sr.’s image hasn’t been misused. That includes Dale Jr.’s image and likeness as well with the No. 8 DEI trademark.

Fans have had issues with Teresa in the past. However, from Dale Jr. himself, she did a good job.

“So, you know, she’s always kind of been protective that way, and I thought, as long as she had this 8 I was very happy it was in a safe place, I always knew it was going to be fine,” Earnhardt continued. “But if she doesn’t want to pay for the trademark anymore, I’m like, ‘Well we better get that because I want it safe. I want it somewhere it can be taken care of.’ And when we thought about doing something with it, we were like, I told Kelly, my sister, I was like, ‘Man I don’t want to just make merch. That just don’t feel good to me, that don’t feel authentic.’ I don’t need to make merch just for no reason at all, right? But if we raced the car I would feel comfortable.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. should have this No. 8 car. Budweiser wants to work with him. He remains a major voice in the sport of NASCAR. Honestly, he remains the most recognizable figure of the sport.

Whatever merch he makes, he deserves it. Let him sell it all and make some starts at local short tracks. Give those grassroots fans a pretty car to look at on the track and maybe even shock some folks with a strong run or two.