NASCAR
‘Very Satisfied’ With Justin Allgaier’s Daytona 500 Finish, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Ponders Future of JR Motorsports
Jared Turner is a motorsports writer who has covered NASCAR for 20 years. He has interviewed over 20 NASCAR Hall of Famers and around 100 drivers, crew chiefs, and team owners, both past and present. He has also covered the sport for FOX Sports (where he was a two-time recipient of the FOX “X” Award for “Xtraordinary” job performance), NASCAR.com, Sporting News, NASCAR Pole Position Magazine, the SPEED network, and plenty of other online and print-only publications throughout his career. Notably, Jared has penned dozens of articles for NASCAR souvenir programs, including several featured prominently in Daytona 500 keepsakes. A Virginia Press Association award winner and former member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), Jared has racked up accolades both for his writing and his academic work. He studied both Communication and Psychology at Virginia Tech, where he was permanently enshrined in Phi Beta Kappa — the nation’s oldest and most prestigious academic honor society. Jared excels at feature writing and opinion writing, much of which stems from his dedication to all levels of racing.
Get to know Jared Turner betterPublished17 Feb 2025
An already blockbuster week for Dale Earnhardt Jr. and JR Motorsports culminated in style at Sunday’s Daytona 500.
After qualifying for The Great American Race with a ninth-place finish in Thursday’s Duel at Daytona, Justin Allgaier — a full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series driver for JR Motorsports — delivered another ninth-place finish for the company in what marked its official NASCAR Cup Series debut.
Earnhardt Jr., who co-owns JRM with his sister Kelley and NASCAR Hall of Fame team owner Rick Hendrick, was ecstatic just to be in the race with the team he founded more than two decades ago. But Allgaier finishing and finishing well took the two-time Daytona 500 winner’s excitement to a whole new level. And it made Earnhardt ponder out loud whether JR Motorsports has a future in the NASCAR Cup Series that goes beyond Sunday.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Justin Allgaier Both Felt Good About Daytona 500 Performance
When JR Motorsports announced in January that it would field a Daytona 500 entry with reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Allgaier as its driver, Earnhardt was quick to acknowledge the harsh realities the team faced.
Specifically, without JRM owning a charter to fall back on, Allgaier failing to qualify for the Daytona 500 was a very real possibility. So, Earnhardt breathed a visible sigh of relief after Thursday’s Duel qualifier where Allgaier punched his ticket into the main event.
The Daytona 500 was still to come, though, so Earnhardt and the team had unfinished business. Allgaier, however, took care of business on Sunday. He not only recorded a top-10 for JRM in its first NASCAR Cup Series race but also brought home his No. 40 Chevrolet in one piece on a day when multiple multicar wrecks wreaked havoc on many participants.
“I think we checked all the boxes,” Allgaier said. “Really proud of JR Motorsports and everybody on this team. We hit all the markers. … We had craziness in picking lines. A lot of uncertainty on my part, just knowing the guys you are around. But all in all, it was a solid night.”
Notably, Allgaier avoided the last-lap melee that took out the lead cars of Denny Hamlin, Austin Cindric and others.
“Missing the crash there at the end was cool,” Allgaier said. “I assumed the caution was out and I didn’t know we were racing back to the line. That was cool to race back to the line and get a top 10.”
The boss was just as pleased with the result.
“Going home from the Daytona 500 very satisfied,” Earnhardt posted on X moments after the race.
Going home from the Daytona 500 very satisfied.
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) February 17, 2025
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Calls Potential Move To NASCAR Cup Series For JRM ‘An Investment’
Even before a few successful days for JR Motorsports at Daytona, Earnhardt acknowledged the potential for the organization to try its hand at more Cup Series races somewhere down the line. But after all that transpired at The World Center of Racing, NASCAR’s 15-time most popular driver is even more bullish about the possibility.
“That’s the big question is what’s next,” Earnhardt told Daren Stoltzfus of Central Florida’s WESH 2 News on pit road after the Daytona 500. “We want to be in the Cup Series. I do believe it’s an investment that has a lot of potential and value over the next decade, two decades. We can’t get in there by ourselves. It’s going to take more help and financial support and partners that want to do it, but I honestly feel like it’s not a bad idea.”
"We want to be in the Cup series" – Dale Earnhardt Jr. @JRMotorsports with a Top Ten finish in their Cup series debut at the #DAYTONA500 @DaleJr made it clear a few times this week — he wants to be a Cup owner. But this team needs some partners to make that happen #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/1KcAMp6gTU
— Daren Stoltzfus WESH (@DarenStoltzfus) February 17, 2025
Allgaier’s No. 40 car carried primary sponsorship in the Daytona 500 from Buffalo Trace Distillery’s Traveller brand — a newcomer to the sport — in partnership with 10-time Grammy Award-winning singer Chris Stapleton. It will take a longer-term sponsorship commitment for JR Motorsports to purchase a charter and go full-time NASCAR Cup Series racing, however. But the desire is definitely there on the part of Earnhardt and his sister.
Earnhardt left little doubt about it after the race ended Sunday night. The key is just finding the financial backing to make it happen.
“We’re just hoping some good people might come along that we would love to work with and start that process with and figure out how to get us here every week,” Earnhardt told WESH 2 News.
