Dale Earnhardt Jr. Makes “Nervous” Confession over JRM’s 2026 Daytona 500 Entry

Dale Earnhardt Jr. openly accepted that he was nervous about JR Motorsport's 2026 Daytona 500 entry with Justin Allgaier.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Makes “Nervous” Confession over JRM’s 2026 Daytona 500 Entry

Dale Earnhardt Jr. with Justin Allgaier (via James Gilbert/Getty Images)

🔍 Explore this post with:

ChatGPTPerplexityGrok AIGoogle AI

Dale Earnhardt Jr‘s Xfinity team, JR Motorsports, is all set to field a car for Justin Allgaier at the 2026 Daytona 500. Allgaier will notably participate in his second Cup Series outing with Dale Jr’s team. Following a successful outing back in 2025, the 39-year-old is all the more excited for the upcoming race. Now, despite proven success at Daytona in the past, the Hall of Famer casts doubts and accepts that he is nervous about the team’s chances.

Justin Allgaier was one of the better drivers at the 2025 Daytona 500. Despite a mediocre outing in the Qualifying, he was able to achieve a top ten finish after nearly avoiding a massive collision in the final stages of the race. As such, he and Dale Earnhardt Jr. were left overjoyed after the results and couldn’t contain their excitement. Now, nerves are definitely high for their upcoming entry in the 68th edition of the historic Daytona 500 race.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. openly accepted that he was nervous about JR Motorsport and Justin Allgaier’s chances at the Daytona 500. He explained that this was because the team would be fielding a new body in the car. Dale Jr. claimed that every time a manufacturer got a new body for a race, they did not perform well at Daytona. The teams still need to figure out what works best at the 500-mile-long circuit.

I’m nervous because we’re going to have a new body, Anytime a manufacturer gets a new body, they don’t go to Dyatona and perform better. You’re figuring out kind of what makes that body perform at a track like that.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. said on Dale Jr. Download.

Further, Dale Earnhardt Jr. accepted that he wasn’t aware of many of the details about the new body that JRM will be fielding at Daytona. However, he reiterated that the teams tried their best to make the cars as competitive as possible after getting a new body on the car. JRM is only entering the Daytona 500 as a one-off race in the Cup Series, and hence, they will have very limited testing and development time on the new body.

I don’t know details, I just shoot it straight. Every time a manufacturer changes the body, they’re trying their best in every way, when a new body is coming in, to make their cars more competitive at the tracks that we race the most.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. added.

Justin Allgaier prepares for a ‘really exciting’ second entry in Daytona 500 with JRM

Justin Allgaier is definitely up for the challenge, regardless of the doubts cast on him and JRM’s chances to succeed at the upcoming Daytona 500. In a recent press release, Allgaier talked about his second Daytona entry with the team. Despite nerves being high. The 39-year-old accepted that he was really excited for the upcoming Cup Series entry at the 500-mile-long circuit.

Amy Earnhardt, Justin Allgaier and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Amy Earnhardt, Justin Allgaier and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@JRM/X)

Justin Allgaier pointed out that a driver needed to be on their toes at all times while racing on a circuit like the Daytona. For Dale Earnhardt Jr. and JRM to succeed at Daytona, they just needed to stay out of trouble and maintain composure while racing three or four cars wide on the circuit. Ultimately, Allgaier needed to get himself in the best possible position to draft his way to the forefront.

These races are definitely really interesting, You have to be on your toes at all times. For us, we just need to be smart all week long and avoid any potential trouble that may come out there when you are two-, three- and sometimes four-wide. In the end, we just need to get ourselves in the best position possible to draft our way to the front.

Justin Allgaier said via jrmracing

For now, the entire crew of JRM and Dale Earnhardt Jr. will relax a little during the off-season. The Xfinity Series (soon to be renamed to NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series) will begin its regular season. JRM achieved a highly successful season with Connor Zilisch in 2025, and they will be excited to see what they can achieve further in the upcoming season.

Read More: Chase Elliott Admits His 2025 Cup Season “Wasn’t Great”