Daytona Beach, Florida – with a famous surname and a worthy curriculum vitae, Dale Earnhardt Jr. thought if the possession of a team from the Nascar series was really his destiny.
JR Motorsports, the team of the XFINITY series, HIM AND KELELY EARNHARDT MILLER, have led since 2005, succeeded in exciting success with 88 victories and four pilot championships in the row of stock cars just under the series of high cuts Level, where Earnhardt Jr. and his late father Dale Earnhardt, seven times champion, was a significant success.
In relation: Daytona 500 results | At-track track photos
Bringing JRM to the Cup series has long been a desire for Dale Jr. He was simply not sure where this motif came from.
“Sometimes you wonder, because of growing up in sport and your last name, do you do this because that’s what you think you are supposed to do?” Are you really to want To do it? Earnhardt Jr. said on Sunday.
He learned after 2025 Daytona 500 that the answer is a resounding yes.
JR Motorsports made its cup debut in the 67th “Great American Race” annual with the XFINITY champion reigning Justin Allgaier piloting the Chevrolet n ° 40 to a remarkable ninth place in the inaugural outing of the program. A sport historian – and a double champion of Daytona 500 himself – Earnhardt Jr. did not feel the need to hide his exaltation after a speedweeks emotionally and extremely reward.
“It was really good for me, I think, to come here and to experience it to see if it was really something that I felt as I wanted,” said Earnhardt Jr. “(…) I think that It helped me understand that I want to be here personally. I have the impression that this is what I should look for.
A revelation all the same, there is little or no surprise that Earnhardt found the answer he was looking for. Earnhardt succeeded in a chance to see his team develop in the cup. But now that this Daytona 500 effort has confirmed one of these persistent questions, we stay: how does JRM find its way to a full-time status on Sunday?
“We are always ready. Have been for years, then we will see, “said Earnhardt. “When we started to set up this agreement, I said to Kelley, you never know what this experience could get started and in terms of interest in some partners who want to help us arrive here full time. “”
MORE: Earnhardt on a complex relationship with Daytona
Earnhardt understands whether fans are exhausted after hearing rumors about JRM’s interest in cuts without chronology or final path to the development of this moment. But for him and Earnhardt Miller to challenge a full -time team in the Nascar Cup series, the timing has always been right. This includes doing so with the right partners to provide the necessary funding. This time, it was the Star of Country Music Chris Stapleton and his brand, a Whiskey Traveler, who helped bring the Chevrolet n ° 40 on the track. Whether it is Whiskey Traveler in the future or other interested sponsors, Earnhardt hopes that the right situation will arrive to help JRM reach its aspirations in the series of ultimate cuts.
“We were on the phone and the table with other people who were interested in investing in charters who did not work,” said Earnhardt. “But we could have new conversations. So you wait and see. If it’s supposed to be, it will happen.
What was to be Sunday evening was a splendid performance by Allgaier, who proved that JRM had hired the right driver and the good crew members to fight on 502.5 miles around Daytona International Speedway. A must in the Nascar National series since 2009 (and with sporadic departures before), Allgaier has muscled through multiple mishaps on the track in the “Great American Race” to mark his second career series in the top 10 of his 83rd departure, fixing its first result of this type for an eighth place in Bristol Motor Speedway in 2015.
While he was standing on the road to the stands next to his tank, Allgaier looked back and saw the whole left mudguard torn from his chevrolet, the story of his night, he said, was “perseverance”.
“When you know you come for a single off, you know it will be a unique experience,” said Allgaier. “People, equipment, tools. I mean, there are so many things. I already said it once, but so grateful to have great people around us. Recognizing for Hendrick Motorsports giving us a guy like Greg Ives to be able to use as a team leader and have more knowledge, right?
“I think this car has so much reduced the gap to everything we have ever done, and create a team in this sport right now is so difficult. And what we have accomplished today was not pretty. We were not the fastest car on the race track overnight. We did not do the best all night. I did not make the right movements 99% of the time. But when everything is said and done, we came out of here with a running car and a solid top 10 finish. It’s hard to be sad about it. But, guy, I am really proud of what they have accomplished and for allowing me to be a really intelligent element. »»
Earnhardt believes that Jr Motorsports “can succeed here” if he is actually heading for the full -time cup series. Thus, while Allgaier may have reached the first top 10 of the JRM in the Cup, Earnhardt sees more in advance.
“I think that with the new charter model, it is more economical to be here,” said Earnhardt. “And so I have the impression with our ability to arouse interest in terms of sponsorship and support, it is an economic model for us with the new charter agreement, and I have the impression that the charters will continue increase the value. So, if there is someone who looks at what we do here who is not involved in sport but who would invest in it, we would be a good partner to consider because we know that we have a good business model in The Xfinity series. We know that we have the capacity to interest the sponsor in our teams to be able to help finance our operations.
“But I think the overall obstacle is the initial investment in the charter. And I can put money, but I can’t – I won’t do it, even if I had it – I wouldn’t buy everything myself. I cannot risk the inheritance and the future of my children on an idea of myself. It is a selfish thing. But I would certainly like to be an investor in any charter in which we would be involved. And the charters, I think, are now at the value of where you almost have partners to enter if you are someone like me. But we will see.
In the meantime, the thrill of competition and success in Daytona 500 is a time when the earnhardts and all the people involved will savor forever.
“I will remember this race for a long time,” said Allgaier. “Whatever the finish or other things, just the emotions of the whole week. I will remember this experience for a long time.
