“The pressure was real”: Dale Earnhardt Jr. reveals he was worried about ‘not letting his team down’ on his racing return

Dale Earnhardt Jr. recently opened up about the pressure he felt during his return to racing at Florence Motor Speedway this past weekend. Dale Jr. and the iconic #8 Budweiser red-white paint scheme reunited after 17 years in the South Carolina 400 late model race last Saturday.

After a poor qualifying performance, Dale Earnhardt Jr. started 40th in a field of 41 and worked his way to run second before a fuel pump failure ended his night early with 31 laps to go. However, it was a great effort by Dale Jr. on his comeback race from the rear of the field to be in contention for the win, battling with eventual winner Treyten Lapcevich in the later half of the race.

On “The Dale Jr. Download" podcast, the 50-year-old admitted he felt nervous ahead of his return to Budweiser’s iconic #8 car, not wanting to let down his team. He wanted to honor his father Dale Earnhardt’s memory and meet fans’ expectations on his return. The former NASCAR driver said:

“The pressure was real. I mean, I didn't think about how other people would react to it, but I was blown away by the excitement and support. And I was just like, 'Man, I hope I don't let these people down.' You know, I wanted to go out there and put on a good show. I wanted to make them proud. I wanted to make Dale Sr. proud. And I think we did that. I think we put on a good show.”

---

Dale Earnhardt Jr. reacts to the overwhelming reactions of fans on his return

A large crowd gathered to watch the glimpse of NASCAR’s most popular driver in the 250-lap late model event at Florence.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. described that he expected excitement and positive reactions on his return, but the overwhelming support from fans—amplified by social media buzz—far surpassed his expectations.

In the aforementioned podcast, the former NASCAR Xfinity Series champion said:

“I knew people were going to like it, I loved all the excitement around it and all of the stuff that I saw from fans on social media when we did the announcement. But as we got to the racetrack, I kind of got overwhelming sense of pressure, lots and lots of pressure. The response far exceeded what I probably thought was going to happen. I was really taken aback by the reaction and the weekend and how it all kind of built.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had achieved success in the #8 Budweiser red-white paint scheme, winning 19 races in the NASCAR Cup Series.