DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Over the past few weeks leading up to Daytona 500 race week, Dale Earnhardt Jr. tried to downplay the importance of what it would mean to see the team he co-owns, JR Motorsports, earn a starting spot in NASCAR’s biggest race, which would also mark the team’s debut in the premier Cup Series.
But the reality was it did matter. Significantly.
The enormity of the stakes was evident Wednesday night when Earnhardt’s driver, Justin Allgaier, posted a speed not quick enough to secure himself a starting spot in Sunday’s Daytona 500. Those on the team equated the feeling to a stomach punch, quite a bit different from how they envisioned this one-off effort to unfold. And that it was by all of .08 seconds only made it worse.
Twenty-four hours later, Earnhardt experienced much different emotions. Elation. Joy. Gratitude. All thanks to Allgaier putting himself in the Daytona 500 by claiming the lone transfer spot in his qualifying race. JRM, a powerhouse in NASCAR’s second-tier Xfinity Series, is now set to make its Cup debut.
“We have kind of tried to downplay how badly we want to race in the Cup Series. At least I have,” Earnhardt said. “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. Holy moly, (Wednesday) was so disappointing. I didn’t know exactly how badly I wanted to do this or wanted to be a part of something like this until we started going through it.
“(Wednesday) was just so tough to understand something as simple as just being (eight-hundredths) too slow. It was really hard to understand and hard to accept.”
That’s one pumped up car owner. pic.twitter.com/2d58sgsNkI
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 14, 2025
It was anything but straightforward Thursday night. Allgaier had to fight hard for it. At various points over the closing laps, he was out of the transfer spot, facing the real possibility that JRM’s Cup debut would have to wait.
Watching it all unfold was Earnhardt, perched atop the pit box alongside sister Kelley Earnhardt Miller and brother-in-law LW Miller. It was nerve-wracking. They all wanted this so badly, and yet it felt like it was slipping away.
“The last two laps, I didn’t think we were in a good spot,” Earnhardt said. “I didn’t think there was a third groove. I didn’t think anyone would want to go out there with us. It was tried a couple of times in the race — didn’t look very good. Our car was a little sluggish at points.”
Then the script flipped. Allgaier began nudging forward while J.J. Yeley, the driver Allgaier needed to beat, slid backward. Eventually, Allgaier moved ahead. The box score seemingly indicates it wasn’t all that close — Allgaier in ninth, Yeley in 17th — yet the reality is it was in doubt until the very end.
“We kept telling ourselves, ‘Man, if it was easy, it wouldn’t matter as much,’” Earnhardt said. “Not that we want it to be as hard as it possibly can, but damn it, it makes it rewarding when you finally get what you’re looking for. That’s racing. That’s sports, too.”
The reward came in the type of celebration that occurs when something means so much it unleashes a flood of different emotions.
“Where else do you go and barely make the field and cry tears of joy? Nowhere,” Earnhardt said. “There’s some relief, but this is incredible. I think that helps you measure the importance of the race and how big it is to me.”
Part of what makes it big is that this is Daytona. And JRM choosing here of all places to attempt to make its Cup debut was apropos. Of course it would be here. It had to be.
This track means so much to the Earnhardts, with few families in NASCAR having a connection to a track similar to theirs. It’s a place where they’ve experienced incredible highs — Earnhardt and his father have won a combined three Daytona 500s — and the lowest of lows, with Dale Earnhardt Sr. having been killed on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.
A complicated relationship, for sure, but also one Earnhardt Jr. and his sister have come to terms with.
“I probably need a psychiatrist to describe it,” Earnhardt said when asked to describe the relationship. “Daddy loved Daytona and loved winning here. He just loved to win any race here.
“Gosh, I loved coming here as a kid, just a lot of great memories. Then when he passed away, I had to make a decision. I had a career in front of me. I was coming back multiple times, and I had to figure out a way to be OK with it. I knew that it wasn’t the track that took him, and I knew that he, wherever he was, still felt the same about Daytona. So I’ve embraced it. Him losing his life in this property brought this property closer to me.”
In the euphoria of locking themselves into the Daytona 500, it’s easy to forget there is still a race to run Sunday. But just being on the grid is a bonus, Earnhardt said. What mattered was actually getting in, something no one involved was taking for granted. Qualifying for this race is an accomplishment; just ask the four drivers who left Daytona on Wednesday night knowing they failed to qualify.
Proud team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. was in the garage right when it opened at 6 a.m. to watch his car unload. The Daytona 500 is the first Cup Series race JR Motorsports has entered. pic.twitter.com/XOXO3MSw8m
— Jordan Bianchi (@Jordan_Bianchi) February 12, 2025
And come Sunday, Earnhardt said he plans to enjoy every moment that Allgaier and JRM earned Thursday night. Because just like Wednesday morning when he was in the garage right when it opened at 6, Earnhardt says he’s going to do the same on race day. There are no guarantees JRM will enter a Cup race again. This could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so he’d better take advantage of it.
“I cannot wait for Sunday,” Earnhardt said. “That’s going to be awesome. 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.”
(Photo of Dale Earnhardt Jr., center, celebrating Thursday’s qualifying: Chris Graythen / Getty Images)
