NASCAR insiders react to Lamar Jackson, Dale Earnhardt No. 8 trademark dispute

Two NASCAR insiders shared their thoughts on the No. 8 trademark dispute between Lamar Jackson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. On The Teardown podcast, Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic weighed in on Jackson preventing Earnhardt from trademarking No. 8.

“Lamar Jackson objects to Dale Jr.’s attempt to trademark the No. 8,” Gluck said. “This was a bit confusing because they had put two requests to trademark stylized No. 8s into the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. You have the Budweiser style DEI former No. 8 that’s super famous and associated with Dale Jr. and Teresa [Earnhardt] led that expire last year, so Dale Jr. went and applied for that.

“Then there was the (JR Motorsports) eight that had been used but not in an iconic way. Lamar Jackson did not try to protest the DEI Budweiser eight, he tried to protest the other eight. But as it comes out, everybody’s saying, ‘Well, oh my gosh. He’s trying to trademark… Does he think he’s bigger than Dale Jr.?’ …It wasn’t even that eight.”

Gluck then mentioned Earnhardt’s statement, saying that they will use the Budweiser No. 8 instead of the JR Motorsports eight going forward. “Quite a bizarre thing when you have Lamar Jackson, two-time NFL MVP, going up against Dale Jr.,” Gluck said. “Prompted a lot of conversation and honestly a lot of great memes as well.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. responds to legal dispute with Lamar Jackson

Bianchi then asked an interesting question about the dispute. “Should Richard Childress Racing be in trouble now? Should they be concerned?” Bianchi jokingly asked about Jackson possibly disputing Kyle Busch, who drives the No. 8 car for Richard Childress Racing. Where does this stop if you’re Lamar Jackson?

Shortly after Jackson took leagal action, Dale Earnhardt Jr. issued a statement that said the team is moving away from the JRM eight. “Through the USTPO, we successfully secured the rights to the stylized 8,” Earnhardt said. “Therefore, we will be moving away from the orginal JRM 8 we have used since 2019. We are looking forward to the remainder of an already successful season.”

Lamar Jackson was worn the No. 8 jersey for his entire NFL career and has been selected to the Pro Bowl four times and the All-Pro First Team three times with the Baltimore Ravens. Dale Earnhardt Jr. drove the No. 8 and No. 88 car in his NASCAR career and won 26 races, including the Daytona 500 twice and four straight wins at Talladega Superspeedway.