Justin Allgaier will race in the 2025 Daytona 500 for longtime Xfinity Series owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. and JR Motorsports. (Photo by Chris Gracen/Getty Images)
JR Motorsports will be competing in a NASCAR Cup Series race for the first time.
The team owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. will compete in the 2025 Daytona 500 with Justin Allgaier behind the wheel. Allgaier won the 2024 Xfinity Series title and has been driving in NASCAR’s second series for JR Motorsports since 2016.
The car will be sponsored by musician Chris Stapleton’s whiskey brand.
“We have been waiting for the right time for JR Motorsports,” Junior said in a statement. “With Justin winning the Xfinity Series championship and Chris Stapleton’s undeniable star power, the world is united in the perfect opportunity to compete in this year’s Daytona 500.”
Allgaier has finished in the top five in the Xfinity Series standings in each of the past six seasons. The title in November was the first of his career.
JR Motorsports has been a mainstay of the Xfinity Series since its inception in 2005. But the team isn’t trying to move up to NASCAR’s top series like many other Xfinity Series teams have done over the past two decades. Junior retired from full-time NASCAR competition at the end of the 2017 season and has since made at least one Xfinity Series appearance each season with the team he co-owns with his sister, Kelly Earnhardt Miller. There is.
The team’s Daytona 500 entry officially means more than 40 cars are looking to join the 40-car 2025 Daytona 500 field. The No. 40 car is confirmed as the 41st entry, with Martin Truex Jr. and Jimmie Johnson expected to participate. The No. 66 MBM Motorsports team is participating in the race, but has announced that they are currently in need of a driver.
MBM announced that Mike Wallace would drive its car, but inexplicably did so before Wallace was officially approved by NASCAR. On Monday, the team announced that Wallace had not been approved by NASCAR. Wallace, 65, hasn’t competed in a national series NASCAR race at the oval since 2015.
Helio Castroneves is one of the drivers entered for the race and is guaranteed a spot thanks to NASCAR’s recently announced new interim driver. If Castroneves fails to qualify for the 500m at speed through qualifying or duel qualifying races, he will be added to the field as the 41st car.
