Dale Earnhardt Jr. addresses the ‘unfortunate’ controversy brewing inside his CARS Tour venture

Dale Earnhardt Jr. recently responded to CARS Tour driver Doug Barnes Jr.’s comment on X, regarding testing prices for this weekend’s race at Cordele Motor Speedway. The NASCAR Hall of Famer is set to compete in the Late Model Stock event, driving his well-known No. 8 car.

Per reports, drivers like Barnes Jr. are being charged $125 for at least three hours of testing. Cordele is new for the series, and needless to say, testing will be crucial. On that note, Barnes posted,

“Testing today for this weekend’s CARS Tour race. Usually it’s about $150-200 a day to test, but Cordele is welcoming us with a nice $125 AN HOUR. Thanks for the hospitality @CordeleSpeedway.”

Dale Jr., who owns the CARS Tour series alongside several others like Kevin Harvick, Justin Marks, and Jeff Burton, replied to Barnes Jr.’s post writing,

“I don’t run the track but I do know this. This wasn’t news for you today. All teams on the conference call earlier this week [were] made aware and told to plan accordingly.”

Barnes fired back, saying that he wasn’t acting surprised by the amount that the drivers were being charged. He simply pointed out how “absurd” he thought it was for the series to charge its drivers that much for testing.

Dale Jr. agreed. He wrote,

“It’s unfortunate that it’s that high. For sure. Didn’t see that on the radar. Maybe a testing ban is the way. I’d rather us not be testing and practicing so much.”

It’s interesting how Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the first to speak about a testing ban despite him being a co-owner of the CARS Tour. He acquired his ownership stake back in 2022, so 2025 marks his fourth year of owning the Late Model Touring Series.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. breaks the silence on his recent controversy with NFL’s Lamar Jackson

Last week, two-time Xfinity Series champion Dale Earnhardt Jr. applied to secure trademark rights to his No. 8 Budweiser Chevy. Notably, this is a different version of the car than previously targeted for trademark protection.

However, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson objected to it. He filed a Notice of Opposition with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, stating that he owns trademark registrations for ‘ERA 8’ and ‘ERA 8 BY LAMAR JACKSON, including a variety of dedicated merchandise.

But Jackson didn’t sue the NASCAR legend for it. Recently on Dale Jr. Download, Dale Earnhardt Jr. touched on the matter and said (via NBC),

“I learned on social media about the same time as everybody else did that Lamar was contesting our trademark application. He wasn’t suing me. He’s just contesting it.”

“When I learned about it, I thought for sure it was over the Bud 8. But when I dug into it, I learned that it was that JR Motorsports font. And we weren’t ever gonna use that again. Ever. So yeah, it’s not an issue. I didn’t wanna see this get nasty for no reason,” he added.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. raced the number for the first time in 17 years at the South Carolina 400 at Florence Motor Speedway in November 2024. A fuel issue sidelined him from contention, but the event was indeed a treat for NASCAR aficionados. Notably, Dale Jr. will race the car in select races through 2025 and beyond.