Graveyard Ghosts: Dale Jr.’s 2002 No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet Monte Carlo

Ron Lemasters | JR Motorsports | 11/13/2017

Dale Jr. News Racecar Graveyard

Part of the three original inhabitants of the Graveyard, the No. 8 is a sister car to the Dirty Mo Posse car that Dale Jr. drove at Daytona in 2003.

Driver: Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Car: No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet Monte Carlo

Track: Unknown

Bio: History is best preserved by knowing what might be of value years in the future. Such is the case with the No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet Monte Carlo that sits in the Racecar Graveyard at Dirty Mo Acres.

Part of the three original inhabitants of the Graveyard, the No. 8 is a sister car to the Dirty Mo Posse car that Dale Jr. drove at Daytona in 2003. The backup car to that one was featured recently in this series, and this Bud car is of similar origin.

The body was cut off the car and came to DMA as a shell. It was placed on the same kind of wooden structure that the DMP car was, and like its sister, saw the wooden frame rot away in the heat and wet of the wooded area. Then it was switched it out for a metal chassis-like frame so that it sat better in its place and did not sink into the loam as the DMP car is doing. It had sunk a lot, which is why it looks like a really racy VW Beetle from a distance.

The paint job should be familiar...it is very close to the car Dale Jr. will race at Homestead-Miami Speedway this weekend. That scheme features the three-stripe panel from the front to the rear, same as the Axalta car that will carry Dale Jr. in his final race.

The car found its way to Dale Jr.’s Racecar Graveyard at Dirty Mo Acres in the same truck that brought the other two cars, and yes, it will be there for many years to come.