The 2025 Daytona 500 was a special event for JR Motorsports. The O’Reilly Auto Parts Series team co-owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. made its Cup Series debut in it and secured a ninth-place finish. The result was lauded by many NASCAR circles and strongly proved the team’s caliber to beat the best in the game. In 2026, it will return to compete in the Great American Race once again.
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A question that must have crossed every mind is, why take the risk? Junior detailed the reasons to race in the event once again in a recent episode of the Dale Jr. Download podcast. The primary reason is that his sister, Kelley, who is also a co-owner of the team, wants them to compete in the highest level of the sport at every opportunity they get. The second reason is more finance-based.
He said, “The Daytona 500 is the most important race of the season, and I would say that for any open team or anybody that wants to enter the race, this probably is the best opportunity financially to do it and not lose money. Maybe it costs probably more to go to Daytona for the 500 for sure, but it costs a significant amount of money to run any race like Talladega or whatever, right?”
Entering a race in the middle of the year is harder to achieve due to financial and technical challenges. Whereas in the Daytona 500, the opportunity naturally presents itself. At least it does so for Junior and his team. He continued to note that the team has some crucial partners who are willing to fund the effort. So, the goal now is to secure a better result than the one in 2025.
Junior’s one desire for the 2026 Daytona 500
The popular icon explained how the JR Motorsports race shop gets completely excited at the idea of racing in the Daytona 500. Every single member feels like it is their flagship car that is on the track and takes great pride in its success. This is why Junior wants the team from 2025 to remain unchanged for 2026.
He said, “I will say this, more than likely, I don’t know for sure 100%. But if I had my way, we would go with exactly the same components and people and personnel as we did last year.”
Every individual wanted to be there and do their best, he believes. Hopefully, he will get this wish fulfilled, and JR Motorsports will secure another great result in the Daytona 500.
