DAYTONA BEACH, Fla – Among the chattering and grinding of power tools, wielded by forlorn team members to shred pieces of sheet metal off battle-damaged race cars after an unsurprisingly chaotic Daytona 500, you’d find the crew of the No. 40 JR Motorsports Chevrolet.
However, its jackman was no typical crew member. Rather, it was its owner: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Even @DaleJr is working on the car after @JRMotorsports earned a top-10 in its Cup debut.
— Dalton Hopkins (@PitLaneCPT) February 17, 2025
He wanted to savor every moment of this start, and he’s keeping true to his word. #NASCAR #DAYTONA500 pic.twitter.com/VvmmBiYpfR
And he had a bigger smile than anyone else in the NASCAR Cup Series garage on Sunday night (Feb. 16).
Earnhardt and his team had overcome many obstacles in its Cup Series debut at Daytona International Speedway in what was meant to be the team’s only scheduled start.
But after a successful Sunday night, now the driver-turned-car owner is hungry for more.
“You know, I think this helped me understand that I do want to be [in Cup] personally,” Earnhardt told reporters in the garage. “I do feel that it’s what I should be striving for. We love being in the Xfinity Series, and we got a great business model, [but] we think we would do a great job [in Cup].
“It would be a big challenge, but something I think that Kelly [Earnhardt] and I could put a lot of effort in [racing in Cup] for the next several years, so we’ll see.”
Earnhardt Jr.’s revelation came after his driver Justin Allgaier crossed the Daytona start/finish line to earn a ninth-place finish in the team’s maiden Cup Series start.
It was no win, but to Earnhardt Jr. and the rest of his team, it didn’t have to be. They had already ‘won’ on Thursday night when they earned their entry in the Great American Race.
“This is a one-time opportunity that we had,” team co-owner Kelly Earnhardt told Frontstretch on Thursday evening. “Anything from here on is icing on the cake. We’re in the race. … We’re going to be happy with whatever happens because we made it.”
For a team that was happy to simply qualify, a top-10 finish in its debut is a hefty amount of ‘icing on the cake.’
But it certainly wasn’t easy.
Allgaier started the night from 19th position on Sunday afternoon and stayed mired in the pack throughout a night that seemed to have a moment of brilliance for anyone in the field at some point. The No. 40 didn’t earn any extra stage points and didn’t lead any laps. However, it also wasn’t involved in any wrecks. The ability for Allgaier to keep his nose clean can’t be said for most of the rest of the field.
Despite being involved in some minor contact in the penultimate crash of the race, Allgaier was still in a decent position for a solid finish on the overtime restart.
Then came the final wreck, and Allgaier, while running 18th, was right in the middle of it.
Yet he emerged from it in ninth.
WILLIAM BYRON WINS THE DAYTONA 500! AGAIN! pic.twitter.com/hPvnCkcNRa
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 17, 2025
“I had some help from the man above, that’s for sure,” Allgaier told Frontstretch about the final crash. “The spotter says, ‘Man, I’m not even going to say anything right now.’ You know it’s bad when the spotter says, ‘I’m not going to say anything.’
“I thought the caution was out, so to be able to drive through there and get back to the start/finish line was really, really special.”
Earnhardt Jr. gave his reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series Champion driver more credit.
“Justin did a good job, you know, he was conservative,” the two-time Daytona 500 winner said. “We were in a good position late in the race, and he tried to do what he could do, and it just didn’t work. We didn’t have many people to go with us. The car was getting real tight on the exit of [turn] 4, and we were struggling with the balance there late in the race, so it’s kind of limited to how confident he could be.”
The result was exceeding the team’s expectations, as well as an emotionally joyful end to what had been a dream experience for the storied stock car dynasty.
“I guess if you told me I was going to finish 10th two months ago, I would have really been thrilled with that or top 10,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “[I’m] happy with the result.”
Allgaier shared in his employer’s joy.
“It was a really, really fun week,” Allgaier continued. “I’ve never seen Dale so emotional and Kelly. I mean, just to see their excitement around this program, it doesn’t get any cooler than that.
“I mean, there’s a family that has accomplished everything in the sport, and to come out here with a great day like we did, it was really cool.”
But now that the dream is accomplished, where does the 15-time Most Popular Driver go from here?
Perhaps it’s leveling up.
“You know, if you’re a competitor,” Earnhardt Jr. began. “You’re like, ‘Well, we got to come back, and if we come back, we got to finish better than ninth. We got to do better, right? You got to keep pushing yourself.
“We’ll see if we get that chance.”
Dalton Hopkins began writing for Frontstretch in April 2021. Currently, he is the lead writer for the weekly Thinkin' Out Loudcolumn, co-host of the Happy Hour podcast, and one of our lead reporters. Beforehand, he wrote for IMSA shortly after graduating from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2019. Simultaneously, he also serves as a Captain in the US Army.
Follow Dalton on Twitter @PitLaneCPT
I think they’ll watch how the charter lawsuit goes. Of nascar changes things about charters or abolishes them, then I think we’ll see jr motorsports get into cup. It was good to see them finish in top 10. I was hoping we would had gotten a post race interview.
Well all watch and see what their future in cup stands.
Daytona in August or spring / fall at Talladega would be my guess Was fun to watch
Dale jr just wants a big sponsor or a rich person to pay for his hobby. Dale sr always said dont spend your money on racing spend someone elses. Dale jr is worth over 250 million dollars i think he could come up with the money to go racing if he would put some of his money in and sounds like he has decided to do that but it does take alot of money maybe nascar will get rid of charters and then it would be alot cheaper to start a team
Junior being in Cup is all and good if that’s what he wants to do. However, he should have to run his own team in his own setting. Too many people saw the one as a fifth Hendrick car, legally bending the rules limit on car numbers.