Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a delightfully wholesome reaction to his JR Motorsports team making the Daytona 500
Dale Earnhardt Jr. is officially back in the Daytona 500 — this time as a team co-owner of JR Motorsports, along with his sister, Kelley Earnhardt Miller.
Normally entered in the second-tier NASCAR Xfinity Series, JR Motorsports officially qualified for the top-tier NASCAR Cup Series’ Daytona 500 with driver Justin Allgaier behind the wheel of the No. 40 Chevrolet. Allgaier didn’t have a guaranteed spot in the Daytona 500, but he raced his way in Thursday night at Daytona International Speedway in one of NASCAR’s two qualifying duels.
So for the first time ever, JR Motorsports will have a Daytona 500 car. And when it became clear Allgaier officially qualified for the biggest race on the NASCAR schedule, Earnhardt — a two-time Daytona 500 winner himself — had a delightfully wholesome and emotional reaction to the special moment.
Here’s Earnhardt’s instant reaction from the pit box:
ALL THE EXCITEMENT. pic.twitter.com/FQx3o1Uzq0
— JR Motorsports (@JRMotorsports) February 14, 2025
And he could barely contain his excitement when he made it over to Allgaier and gave his driver a big hug:
Welcome to The Great American Race, @JRMotorsports pic.twitter.com/kdRBtU1KIo
— Daytona International Speedway (@DAYTONA) February 14, 2025
They're in! Justin Allgaier and @DaleJr talk with Jamie Little. pic.twitter.com/abpF2Y1GGH
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 14, 2025
“We get to push a car on the grid Sunday for the first time ever and the biggest, most important race that I’ve ever known, and I can’t wait,” Dale Jr. said in a press conference afterward.
“It’s hard to sit here and put it into words,” he added. “It really is probably the toughest thing I’ve ever had to answer.
“Man, we have kind of tried to downplay how badly we want to race in the Cup Series. At least I have. It’s like one of them things where you are like, ‘Man, if it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be.’ I’m not going to make it drag down all the other great things happening in my world, but man, we got here, and we got a taste of it.”
.@JRMotorsports is in the Daytona 500!
Hear @DaleJr’s thoughts on this huge moment pic.twitter.com/q7OlOvyOjm
— Dirty Mo Media (@DirtyMoMedia) February 14, 2025
Allgaier will start Sunday’s Daytona 500 from 19th.
The race is set for 1:30 p.m. ET on Fox. It was originally scheduled for 2:30 p.m. ET, but NASCAR announced Friday it’s moving up the start time to account for possible inclement weather.