Dale Earnhardt Jr. Pilots No. 8 Budweiser Car at Anderson Motor Speedway

At Anderson Motor Speedway Saturday night, Dale Earnhardt Jr. steered a classic red No. 8 Budweiser car to tenth place. The paint job matched his winning Daytona car from July 2001. Four thousand fans packed the stands for the CARS Tour race.

Starting back in 22nd, he pushed through the field. A spin on lap 50 slowed his charge, but didn't stop it. Up front, young gun Landen Lewis from Ocean Isle Beach took the checkered flag at the South Carolina track.

"Great crowd," said Earnhardt Jr., per The Charlotte Observer. "Great night for the CARS Tour."

The red paint scheme originated from a simple request. "I just wanted the rights to run my scheme at Florence. I don't need money from you or anything, just let me run the red car at Florence," Earnhardt Jr. said. Budweiser's response? "Better yet, go do two races, and go run. Go have fun."

This year keeps linking back to 2001 for Junior. His team, JR Motorsports, jumped into Cup Series racing in February: their first try since 2017. NASCAR also brought racing back to Rockingham in April. That track held the first race after Dale Sr.'s fatal crash.

Amazon Prime released Earnhardt this summer. But Junior sees no grand plan in the timing. "It looks like coincidence," he said. "And it wasn't a plan to do all these things."

At 50, he splits time between racing and business. He owns part of the CARS Tour and talks about racing on TV. Through Dirty Mo Media, his company, he speaks out about racing issues, such as improving the Next Gen cars.

"I'm gonna run until I'm not enjoying it. And I don't see that happening," he said about his racing future.

The tight 3/8-mile Anderson track, with its sharp turns and close racing, drew its biggest crowd ever. Fans turned out in force to watch the two-time Daytona 500 winner take on the short track.