NASCAR‘s Dale Earnhardt Jr. released a formal statement on X, announcing that his JR Motorsports team will be switching to a stylized No. 8, thereby moving away from the “original JRM 8” font the team has been using since 2019. This move comes after the NFL quarterback Lamar Jackson challenged Dale Jr.’s pending trademark claim with a notice of opposition.
Newsweek Sports reported on Friday that Jackson’s notice challenged Dale Jr.’s claim, arguing the font is similar to Jackson’s registered trademark for his brands, ‘ERA 8’ and ‘ERA 8 BY LAMAR JACKSON.’
Jackson’s notice stated that Dale Jr. intends to use a slanted font similar to the one in use on his brands, which would cause potential customers to “mistakenly believe the products [Earnhardt Jr.] offers under the mark 8 are related to the products and services provided by [Jackson].”
The notice also stated:
“[Earnhardt Jr.’s] mark falsely suggests a connection with persons, living or dead, namely, Lamar Jackson, who is well known by the number 8.”
Jackson’s brands deal with “bottoms as clothing, footwear, headwear, tops as clothing [and] undergarments.” Trademark attorney Josh Gerben explained that Dale Jr. was looking for similar protection for products including apparel, die-cast cars, and toys that would sport his trademark.
Now, Dale Jr. has decided to change the font that JRM has been using since 2019. His statement read:
“Through the USTPO, we successfully secured the rights to the stylized 8. Therefore, we will be moving away from the original JRM 8 we have used since 2019.
“We are looking forward to the remainder of an already successful season.”
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) April 4, 2025
JRM has been in the news recently after its Xfinity driver Sammy Smith came under fire for contributing to the chaos last Saturday at Martinsville. Smith rear-ended race leader Taylor Gray, which triggered a massive wreck behind them. Smith was penalized with 50 points and a $25,000 fine.
After the matter had cooled down, Dale Jr. revealed the discussion he had with Smith and admitted that his driver regretted his actions. Newsweek Sports reported:
“I called Sammy [Smith] on Sunday and I talked to him for a while and told him everything that I needed to tell him after I’d calmed down. You don’t know whether it sinks in yet. I can’t sit here and tell you, ‘Oh yeah, man, he’s sorry. He’s really sorry and, man, he’s going to do better.’
“But he says all those things. He says that he understands that he screwed up. He knows it gives himself a black eye, he gave JR Motorsports a black eye. He knows that we’re very disappointed in him.
“He certainly has tons of regret. But the work forward is a long road. He ain’t going to fix it in 12 hours. He’s got a lot of work to do to repair his reputation. That was a heavy blow. People look at him; I told him, I said, ‘Hey, everybody thinks you’re a spoiled punk. That’s what a lot of people think.’”
He added:
“I asked him, I said, ‘Don’t you agree that people have that perception of you?’ He said, ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘You gave them an opportunity to be right. You can’t do that.’ Unfortunately, the situation that he’s in and that a lot of other drivers are in, it’s perceived that they’re only there because of some extra funding or family connection or what have you. There’s tons of drivers, it’s talked about openly in the Truck Series and the Xfinity Series, fans have certain opinions about them being spoon-fed and what have you.
“And I said, for Sammy, I said, ‘You have to work harder because of that to prove you belong there. You can be frustrated about that or whatever, but it doesn’t change anything, you still have to go… if you want to be a racecar driver for the rest of your life, if you want this to work for you, you’re going to have to work harder and you’re going to have to walk the line straighter. And you can’t do sh*t like you did this past weekend. You can’t.’”
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