WATCH: Dale Earnhardt Jr. helps his crew with setup in his Red Budweiser #8 car

While fans came to see Dale Earnhardt Jr. return to racing in the Budweiser No. 8 car, the driver also had other duties in the race. Earnhardt Jr. was spotted helping his JR Motorsports crew prepare the red late-model car, including changing the tires.

Earnhardt Jr. is a 50-year-old professional stock car racing driver who drove in the NASCAR Cup Series. He debuted in the premier series in the No. 8 Dale Earnhardt, Inc. (DEI) Chevrolet sponsored by Budweiser before racing for Hendrick Motorsports in the No. 88 car until his retirement in 2017.

His entry at the Florence Motor Speedway race marked the return of the Budweiser No. 8 car, which he helped set up with his crew. NASCAR insider Peter Stratta captured the pre-race moment and posted it on X (formerly Twitter).

"@DaleJr hard at work helping his @JRMotorsports crew prep the No. 8 late model, even changing tires!" Stratta wrote.

In the 1-minute video on X, Dale Earnhardt Jr. could be seen installing the front left tire with the car jacked up in the pitlane. As opposed to the single lug-nut design on NASCAR's Next Gen cars, late models use multiple lug nuts, which Dale Jr. torqued himself on the No. 8 car using a wheel gun.

Unfortunately for the Kannapolis native, a mechanical issue spoiled his return to racing. The race-ending failure did not concern the tires but originated from the engine, where a fuel pump issue was found.

The issue forced Dale Earnhardt Jr. to retire from second position after gaining about 40 positions throughout the race. The driver was chasing Treyten Lapcevich when he had to enter the pit road to retire, allowing Lapcevich to run away with the win at the South Carolina 400 from Florence Motor Speedway.

The race winner eventually brought home the $10,000 prize.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. reveals that he wanted to quit before the Florence late model race

Dale Earnhardt Jr. at the NASCAR Xfinity: Food City 300 - Source: Imagn

Dale Earnhardt Jr. shared how one of his competitors talked him out of quitting the race at Florence Motor Speedway. Earnhardt Jr. said a "fella" came up to him and told him to keep his head up.

For context, Dale Jr. wanted to quit after a poor qualifying performance that put him at the back of the field for the race. But as mentioned earlier, the former NASCAR driver charged through the field from 40th to second before encountering a race-ending mechanical issue.

Speaking with Sportsnaut's Matt Weaver, the 26-time Cup race winner said:

“I'm pretty happy with it, honestly I was ready to quit doing this sh*t after qualifying because I just was like you know, if I can't do any better now, I don't need to be out here messing around and wasting everybody's time, but after the way we ran in the race, I'm excited to do it again.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. continued:

“I wish I could remember the guy’s name drove that 19 car tonight when he got in the race. I think it was him anyway, the local guy that runs here. It was this fella. I'm sitting there. I made that qualifying run. I was mad as hell... He comes up to me, and he's like, 'Hey man, I want to tell you something, man. You need to keep your head up.' ”

“I was like, all right, he's like, 'I'm doing this because of you,' and he's like, listening. I lost my dad, and listening to your podcast really helped me, and he's like, 'Don't worry about that qualifying lap'; he's like, 'You know the things you're doing are good, and you're helping people, and you're helping me.'”

The stop at Florence Motor Speedway was only the first scheduled for Dale Earnhardt Jr. He is set to compete in a limited series of late-model stock car races up until next year.