Dale Earnhardt Jr. Gets Emotional As His JR Motorsports Team Makes The Daytona 500 For The First Time

Just feels right.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is a NASCAR legend, obviously for his racing career but even more for what he’s done for the sport both on and off the track.

The son of the legendary Dale Earnhardt, it was always expected that Junior would take over his father’s DEI race team after his father’s death. But obviously that didn’t work out due to his rocky relationship with his stepmother, Teresa Earnhardt.

Back in 2005, Junior started his own NASCAR team, JR Motorsports, to compete in the NASCAR Xfinity Series (previously the Busch Series). And while the team has won 91 races and four championships in NASCAR’s lower series, JR Motorsports has never run a Cup Series race.

But that changes on Sunday.

Last month, JR Motorsports announced that they would attempt to qualify for the Daytona 500 with their Xfinity Series driver Justin Allgaier behind the wheel and sponsorship from Chris Stapleton’s Traveller whiskey.

According to Junior, when the opportunity presented itself, he knew the time was right for the team to attempt to make their Cup Series debut:

“I don’t want to do it any more than I want to do it now. I’ve always wanted to do it. I don’t know that we ever had a plan that we were going to enter the 2025 Daytona 500. Chris and his team came to us with an idea, and this is the way stuff kind of comes together sometimes.”

While Allgaier has been full-time with JR Motorsports in the NASCAR Xfinity Series since 2016, and is also the reigning 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion, he was forced to race his way into the Daytona 500. Without a charter guaranteeing them a spot in the race, JR Motorsports entry competed as an “open” car alongside 9 other cars including Cup Series champions Jimmie Johnson and Martin Truex Jr.

Johnson and Truex managed to lock themselves into the race during qualifying on Tuesday as the two fastest open cars. But that meant that Allgaier and JR Motorsports would have to race their way in tonight in the Duel at Daytona.

To secure their spot in the race, Allgaier would have to finish his Duel as the top “open” car (more or less – there were a couple other scenarios where he could make it in, but it all depended on how the other open cars finished).

And things were looking a little iffy towards the end of the 60-lap race. Allgaier was in 15th, stuck near the back of the pack with both Truex and fellow open driver JJ Yeley several spots ahead of him.

But with just a couple of laps to go, Allgaier made his move, jumping to the outside of the pack and leading a line of three drivers around the top of the track. He was able to make a little progress, but then AJ Allmendinger in the #16 car jumped up in front of him – which may sound like a problem, but at Daytona it’s just what he needed.

The line led by Allmendinger, with Allgaier on his bumper, was able to move forward on the outside and land the JR Motorsports entry in 9th place at the finish line – the highest finishing open car, securing themselves a spot in the Daytona 500.

And the excitement from team owners Dale Jr. and his sister and co-owner Kelley Earnhardt Miller is something that no doubt made every NASCAR fan smile:

#NASCAR … Dale Jr’s reaction as JR Motorsports makes the Daytona 500 for the first time. pic.twitter.com/9TyrEFZX6Z

— Dustin Long (@dustinlong) February 14, 2025

On pit road, Junior even choked up while speaking about the emotion of making his first ever Cup Series race as a team owner:

“This sport’s amazing, everything about it. I’ve seen it from so many different lenses, and I love the challenges. I wouldn’t want it any other way. This was hard emotionally, but I can’t believe that we get to race on Sunday. I just can’t believe it.”

They're in! Justin Allgaier and @DaleJr talk with Jamie Little. pic.twitter.com/abpF2Y1GGH

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 14, 2025

Obviously Daytona is always an emotional place for Junior, whose father passed away in the Daytona 500 back in 2001. But Junior picked up where his dad left off, winning the very next race that season and going on to win two Daytona 500s of his own.

It only feels right that Junior’s own Cup team makes their debut in the Daytona 500. A full-circle moment for Junior, and one that no doubt makes every NASCAR fan smile as they see the excitement and hear the emotion in his voice.