Dale Earnhardt Jr. Admits What Makes Him Nervous About JRM’s Return to the Daytona 500

JR Motorsports made its Cup Series debut at the 2025 Daytona 500 and secured a ninth-place finish thanks to the efforts of Justin Allgaier in the No. 40 car. In 2026, the team will take the crown jewel race on again. But this time, the job will be a little bit tougher to get done.

The team’s co-owner, Dale Earnhardt Jr., explained why in a recent episode of the “Dale Jr. Download” podcast.

Chevrolet has announced that it will be upgrading the body of its Camaro ZL1 for the 2026 season. Junior believes there is a significant learning curve every time a manufacturer updates its car. The new body either performs well on intermediate and short tracks or on superspeedways, but rarely on all track types. This is what makes the benefactor nervous.

Earnhardt Jr. said, “They changed the body style. Their hope and attempt is that they will make the car more competitive at all of the tracks that they run the most. Like, the intermediates and the short tracks.

“Whatever is good there is bad at Daytona and Talladega, right? Because it’s going to have a little more downforce or a little more drag or whatever.”

So, how long does this learning period last? He added, “So, I’m just saying anytime we have a manufacturer change of body, there’s a learning period. There’s a year or half a year or three quarters of a year where they’re trying to figure it out, and what really is the platform? How does this thing really perform the best? How do we need to have the car set up to really be able to get the most out of this body?”

Chevrolet’s new body for the ZL1

The minor changes to the ZL1’s body take style elements from a performance accessories kit that Chevrolet recently made available for the car’s road version. NASCAR has greenlighted the upgrades and said that they are the result of the collaboration between themselves and the manufacturer.

Chevrolet noted that the new version features a larger dome, changes to the grille, and better rocker panels. It also underlined that there are new design features that align with the carbon-fiber parts on the hood and the rockers. While a proper successor to the Camaro wasn’t announced, as expected, the carmaker has confirmed that this isn’t the end of the story for the Camaro.