Daytona 500 experience "was everything" for Earnhardt

02/19/2025 12:29 PM

Dale Earnhardt Jr., now a few days removed from the experience of fielding a NASCAR Cup Series car in the Daytona 500, raved about the experience on his podcast.

"It was everything," Earnhardt said on the episode that dropped late Tuesday. "It was awesome. Daytona is amazing. That's a great racetrack. Historic facility. It feels special. The whole process was good. You're asking me to talk about something, and I've got 1,000 words in this bucket. What do you want me to say, you know? I was there when they loaded it up to go home. I helped them push it back into the garage and we put the tow shocks on it."

Justin Allgaier drove the car to a ninth-place finish in Sunday's race. He had to qualify for the field in the Thursday night duel after missing out on being among the fastest two Open drivers in single-car qualifying.

Earnhardt was involved in the process from the beginning, as he said he would be. He joined the team for the 6 a.m. garage open Wednesday to help unload the car, and was in the garage throughout the weekend. It wasn't uncommon to see him taking pictures of the experience.

And when the car was on the track, Earnhardt was atop the pit box. He also had a radio to communicate with Allgaier whenever it felt necessary.

“You know what I have that's really cool that I didn't realize would be as cool as it is?" Earnhardt said. "When we ran the duel, the next day our engine guy brings me the little block with the spark plugs, so, all eight spark plugs in a spark plug case from out of the car that ran the duels … and I'm going to get the eight spark plugs out of the race engine, too. We'll probably get some of the body parts and panels put away. … those are neat things to have.

"But I know people want to know what's next. I'm moving on. It's time to move on. It was back to reality when we got back home from Daytona."

Earnhardt knows, however, that there is interest in what is next for JR Motorsports. Over the weekend, Earnhardt admitted he's perhaps downplayed his interest in racing in the Cup Series, but the experience proved to be everything and more. The financial aspect will be the biggest hurdle for any future full-time plans.

In the meantime, Earnhardt would be open to it if country singer Chris Stapleton, who sponsored Allgaier's car with his Traveller Whiskey brand, wanted to run another race this season such as at Daytona again or Talladega Superspeedway. Earnhardt believes Stapleton and his team had as much fun in Daytona as the team.

"We'd probably just rerun it and rack it up, and so that's a possibility," Earnhardt said. "We'll see. I don't know that we're going to run another race this year. There'd have to be another partner or sponsor walk in the door, and say, 'Hey, we saw what you did. We want to be in your car. Are you all going to run another race? We got this money, and we invest in this event and we'd like to run in this market. Can we do it?'

"That's a long conversation. So, no plans to go run another race."

JR Motorsports has made a place in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, which Earnhardt loves and believes is the best racing. He prefers those cars over the Next Gen cars.

It's more expensive to go Cup Series racing, and Earnhardt does not want to pay as much as $40 million for a charter. He also doesn't expect one to fall into his lap. There would need to be a partner to come in and invest with the team, and Earnhardt feels comfortable spending $5 to $10 million of his own money. But then it comes down to finding the right partner to bring into the folds, since it'll be a marriage.

And so, with things going well and working for the team as is, Earnhardt doesn't want to do anything with risk involved for JR Motorsports. Having the Daytona 500 experience is enough for him right now.

"It did give me a sense of what being in that garage is like, and it's cool," Earnhardt said. "It ain't no joke, man. It's cool. It's badass to be at that level."