DAYTONA BEACH — Dale Earnhardt Jr., like his father before him, has earned numerous trophies for winning races at Daytona. But he never seemed to have as much fun here as he did last February, when he take a ride around the 2.5 mile tri-oval.
And now he goes start again.
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JR Motorsports, the Xfinity Series team co-owned by Junior and his sister Kelly Earnhardt-Miller, will once again field a No. 40 Chevrolet for driver Justin Allgaier and attempt to win the title. Daytona 500 2026. In another repeat effort, the single-car effort will partner with music star Chris Stapleton, bringing sponsorship support and the crooner’s Traveler Whiskey brand.
As always, the Daytona 500 will kick off the 2026 regular season. The 68th edition is scheduled for February 15.
Daytona, a big deal for Dale Earnhardt Jr.
JR Motorsports is a longtime staple and four-time champion of NASCAR’s Xfinity Series, which will be rebranded next year as the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. Allgaier, the 2024 series champion, piloted the team’s Cup Series debut in the 2025 Daytona 500, but only after barely qualifying for The Great American race in the 150-mile Duel three days earlier.
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That Thursday night, everyone learned how much it meant to Junior for his team to compete in the Daytona 500 on its first attempt.
DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA – FEBRUARY 13: Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR Hall of Famer and owner of JR Motorsports, celebrates with Justin Allgaier, driver of the No. 40 Traveler Whiskey Chevrolet, qualifying for the Daytona 500 after the NASCAR Cup Series Duel 1 at Daytona International Speedway on February 13, 2025 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
“Man, we got here and we got a taste of it, and holy moly,” Junior said after the duel. “I didn’t really know how much I wanted to do this or be a part of something like this until we started experiencing this,
“We run. We love running, and running is hard, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. It was hard emotionally, but damn, it’s fun when it works.”
Three days later, Allgaier finished ninth in the big race.
For the Earnhardts, 51 victories in total at Daytona
The Earnhardt name has played an important role in Daytona’s history for more than 40 years. Dale Sr. has won a wide variety of races at Daytona – a record 34 in total – and his long-sought Daytona 500 victory in 1998 ranks among the greatest Daytona highlights of all time.
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Junior, like everyone else, was no match for his father’s Daytona record, but he wasn’t without trying. He won two Daytona 500s, as well as two of the summer Daytona 400 miles. In the Xfinity Series, where he was a two-time series champion, he won six times at Daytona, including four in a row between 2002 and 2004.
Junior also won five of Thursday’s qualifying races and won the Preseason Shootout, now known as the Clash, twice, giving him 17 Daytona victories overall.
As a team owner, JR Motorsports has nine victories at Daytona in the Xfinity Series.
This article originally appeared in the Daytona Beach News-Journal: Dale Earnhardt Jr. returning to the NASCAR Daytona 500 as team owner in 2026
