Kevin Harvick Thinks NASCAR Officials Should Give Dale Earnhardt Jr “Whatever He Wanted”

What’s Happening?

Kevin Harvick suggests that NASCAR should give Dale Earnhardt Jr. a NASCAR Cup Series charter for JR Motorsports in the latest episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour.

Despite interest from JR Motorsports’ ownership, many barriers still stand in the way of JR Motorsports racing full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series in the coming years.

It was once easy to start a Cup Series team, especially with the support that JRM co-owner Rick Hendrick would provide. The team has faced a new challenge since NASCAR introduced the charter system in 2016. Earnhardt has said as recently as this season that the hefty price of these charters has served as a “very challenging barrier of entry” for JRM, though that hasn’t kept the team out of the series.

JRM made its Cup Series debut in the 2025 Daytona 500, with driver Justin Allgaier finishing ninth. This entry paid dividends for the sport, resulting in Allgaier remaining the leader of merch sales months after the team’s debut.

Traveller Whiskey wants to continue advertising to NASCAR’s fanbase after the Daytona 500 and is in talks about how to do so.

🔲 JRM says the program was so successful, Justin Allgaier remains the No. 1 Cup driver in merch sales on https://t.co/NFJCvNKcbK.https://t.co/atDg9Mewdj

— Adam Stern (@A_S12) March 17, 2025

Although charter prices are high, many have wondered if the attention garnered by JRM’s entry in the 500 would be worth NASCAR simply giving a charter to the team, a notion that his fellow driver-turned-analyst Kevin Harvick agrees with.

During a recent episode of his podcast, Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour Podcast, Harvick told Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports that if he were Jim France, he would give JRM a charter. Indicating that it would be for the betterment of the sport, as in his opinion, there is “nothing better for Cup racing than the Earnhardt family owning a Cup car.”

“I’d give him one. If I was NASCAR and Jim France, I would give Dale Jr. whatever he wanted.” — Kevin Harvick

Though it seems unlikely that NASCAR would take this drastic step, that hasn’t kept the fan base from supporting and theorizing about the idea.

Fan Support for JRM Joining the Cup Series

However, a few months ago, NASCAR, which was at the time battling Front Row Motorsports and 23XI Racing over charter status as part of its larger, ongoing lawsuit, informed the court of its intention to “convey” a charter to a new, unknown team.

While it’s still unclear to which team this refers, for the same reasons Harvick listed above, and given the choice to use the term “convey,” fans have theorized that it was JRM, although the sport, the team, or ownership has not confirmed any such plans.

For well over a decade now, NASCAR fans have speculated that JR Motorsports, owned in part by NASCAR Hall of Famer and 15-time Most Popular Driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., could go full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series.

This fan support is, of course, due in part to the Earnhardt family’s status in NASCAR, its legacy of owning a NASCAR Cup Series team, and the JRM’s success in NASCAR’s secondary division. Since its debut in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2005, JRM has dominated, winning four NASCAR Xfinity Series Championships and averaging 4.9 wins throughout its 21 seasons of racing.

Despite this consistency, their support from HMS, success at Daytona, and an in-house feeder system that goes as deep as the grassroots level, JRM has yet to secure a full-time spot in the NASCAR Cup Series.

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