After JR Motorsports made its NASCAR Cup Series debut in the 2025 Daytona 500, Dale Earnhardt Jr’s team will be back for more in 2026.
On Friday, it was announced that JRM will field a Daytona 500 entry for the second year in a row, with 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Justin Allgaier driving the No. 40 Chevrolet and attempting to qualify for the 68th running of the Great American Race in February.
Allgaier will have to make the Daytona 500 field via qualifying or through his duel race. The 2026 Daytona 500 is scheduled for Feb. 15.
Allgaier, a veteran of 83 Cup Series starts, started 19th and finished ninth in the 2025 Daytona 500.
Justin Allgaier has an impressive resume
Allgaier is an Xfinity Series veteran, running 504 Xfinity Series races and winning 28 of them. He’s coming off of his eighth Championship 4 appearance in 10 years.
Competing in another Daytona 500 as a team owner would be another feather in the Daytona cap of Earnhardt Jr., who won two Daytona 500s (2004, 2014) and is considered one of the best superspeedway racers in NASCAR history. Earnhardt Jr.’s father, Dale Earnhardt Sr., won the 1998 Daytona 500, cementing a strong Earnhardt family legacy at the track.