Dale Earnhardt Jr. has always said a NASCAR Cup Series effort for JR Motorsports would have to make business sense with the right people attached to it.
So, when country music star Chris Stapleton reached out to his friend, Rick Hendrick, about a partnership for the Daytona 500, JR Motorsports became the obvious fit. For one, Hendrick Motorsports is already at the four-car cap and couldn’t enter another car in The Great American Race.
At the same time, everyone knows the Earnhardts want to be in Cup someday and this one-off would be directionally positive to the eventual goal. So, then, the obvious question is why newly crowned Xfinity Series champion Justin Allgaier got the call to run the car from all the available drivers and that really wasn’t that complicated either.
“There are a lot of layers to this obviously,” Earnhardt said. “JR Motorsports, myself and Kelley entering a Cup car in any race is a big deal for us. This is a bit of a continuation, at least for me personally, of celebrating Justin’s championship.
“Achieving that goal, one that we’ve been after for a long time, we’ve come so close and some really, really heartbreaking moments that have strengthened our bond and partnerships.”
It’s more than just Allgaier the driver too as the Earnhardts believe he is also the best racer poised to activate the sponsor, which is the Traveller Whiskey crafted by Stapleton. The No. 40 is because this is the 40th blend crafted until the whiskey was perfected.
“I think me and Kelley both knew that we had to consider Justin as the driver, and as all of that played out toward the end of last year, it was a no brainer that he was what we needed to do,” Earnhardt said. “But we want Traveller to have a great experience and we know what Justin is capable of doing outside the car as well as inside the car.
“So, we know what Justin is capable of doing outside of the car as well as inside the car. Justin will make sure this is a great experience for Traveller.”
For Allgaier, this is also the chance to tackle NASCAR’s biggest race with a first-class effort, something he never had when entering the race in 2014 and 2015 with the small budget HScott Motorsports. The 38-year-old spent the past decade chasing that championship, and up until November, frequently losing it in the most heartbreaking ways imaginable.
At this point, short of a healthy and lengthy Cup Series career, all that remains for Allgaier is to chase the Daytona 500 with a top-flight effort. With that said, Allgaier is more
“The interesting part to me is that I’m more excited about this being JR Motorsports’ first Cup Series start,” Allgaier said. “I love where I’m at and I love being part of this organization and the people that I’m around. Dale, Kelley and LW (Miller) are obviously the face of it; we have a large group but it’s still got the family feel. And I feel like that’s what Chris has brought with Traveller too.
“The championship last year was awesome but I had conceded to the fact that I wasn’t sure it was going to happen. When we pulled that off, it was like, ‘man, this is a really cool, big moment,’ and seeing the excitement in the shop was a big deal. This just takes it to the next step but we have our work cut out for us to even make the race, but there will be nothing cooler than if we can line up on Sunday.”
Allgaier says that because the team does not have a charter or guaranteed entry into the race. They will either have to make the show based on their qualifying speed, needing to be one of the two fastest cars of those without a charter, or needing to race their way in during the qualifying race that week.
They will have engines from Hendrick Motorsports, who has a longstanding history of placing cars on the front row for the Daytona 500 and also veteran crew chief Greg Ives, who only recently got off the road as a full-timer at the highest level of the sport.
Ives, who spent time at both JR Motorsports and now Hendrick, is part of that extended family Allgaier mentioned so this is a fully equipped effort to try to make the show, and maybe outright win it.
“I was like, ‘do you have any magic left, Grag,’ so I wanted us to get to the track and see what we can do,” Earnhardt said. “I think, being an open car, there will be some challenges to get into the field. It won’t be easy. There will be some very tough competition.”
To his point, the likes of seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson, recently-retired champion Martin Truex Jr and several other high profile teams will be challenging for the four open spots. There could be up to eight teams chasing four spots.
Earnhardt said Ives has always been a pressure molded racer and would respond to that moment.
“He understands better than anybody the things we would need to gather into place to go there with the best opportunity that we could,” Earnhardt said. “Me and him are just really good friends and I trust him wholeheartedly with his decisions.
“I don’t think he will be too annoyed with me standing over his shoulder throughout the whole process, asking him silly questions. He’s got a great track record in terms of qualifying and hopefully that will be a big assist for us.”
Lastly, simply making the race is the priority, but could this be the start of having JR Motorsports more regularly in the Cup Series beyond next month?
“We’re always going to race,” Earnhardt said. “You know, we’ll always find a way to get to the race track and compete because that’s what we’ve always done and what we want to do. We’ve always wanted to race in the Cup Series and are just waiting for the right pieces to fall into place.
“I hope that we can, for our fans, meet the pressure to go out there, get the car in the field and get it on the grid so we can all enjoy this.”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.