Dale Earnhardt Jr. recently sent race fans into a frenzy as he announced that he would run select Late Model races in 2024 and 2025. The first of those races will be the South Carolina 400 at the Florence Motor Speedway next month.
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The reason why fans went crazy is that Junior will bring back the #8 “Bud King of Beers” paint scheme car, something that he made famous between 1999 and 2007 in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Junior did an advertisement with Budweiser back in those days which has been brought back into the public eye since the announcement. In the ad, Junior is driving his #8 car and is chased by characters from the popular movie series — Mad Max. The ad was made to discourage people from drunk driving and promote the beverage brand at the same time.
"Just because I've got Bud on the car, doesn't mean I've got Bud in the car."
Budweiser commercial with Dale Jr from Super Bowl XLI: pic.twitter.com/mmSHP4eSCg
— nascarman (@nascarman_rr) October 22, 2024
The #8 car was special for Junior as he won his first Daytona 500 in it. He also had his best-ever performance in the Cup Series in that car when he finished P3 in the championship in 2003. Back then, Junior was a Dale Earnhardt Inc. driver, a team from which he left under difficult circumstances in 2008.
“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,” he had said recently.
Fans nostalgic as iconic commercial resurfaces
Fans were excited when Junior announced his Late Model schedule and people were happy to see the old Budweiser ad surface on social media as well. Some believe that it is a throwback to times when the sport and its drivers were as popular as athletes of any other sport on US soil. “Back when drivers were super famous,” one user commented on X (formerly Twitter).
Junior and Bud have a storied history and the two entities were synonymous with each other during the early 2000s. “Will always be my favorite bud commercial with Jr,” one user commented as another said, “Classic.” For one user, it’s the best commercial ever made. “My favorite commercial of all time,” they commented under the video.
It’s safe to say that the Florence Motor Speedway will be jam-packed for the upcoming South Carolina 400. It was already a popular event among hardcore race fans and now with Junior in the mix, it will surely gain a lot more attention. That is always a positive for motorsports as a whole in the country.
