As Denny Hamlin and Kyle Petty noted, the recent Daytona 500 felt like an old 500 race, a big celebration throwback compared to recent years, when many felt the race had lost its spark. Both pointed to the crowd and the buzz, saying the place felt like it did decades ago and that the event had fans on their feet. With JR Motorsports already making two Cup starts, both at Daytona, speculation among fans has started circulating about whether Dale Earnhardt Jr. could strap in for another run next year.
Last year, when Justin Allgaier made the Cup debut on behalf of JRM, he brought it home inside the top ten. This time, however, he started from 40th, cut through the field, and cracked the top five by Lap 81. By Lap 84, he even had his nose in front, only for the whole movie to turn 180 degrees. While trying a late block on Hamlin, Allgaier slapped the wall and lit the fuse on a 20-car Big One, sweeping up nearly half the field. The damage parked him for the day, and he was scored P38.
Still, with the race serving a full plate of drama, Junior’s wife, Amy Earnhardt, tossed a big thought into the situation by floating the idea of Junior running the next Daytona 500. On the latest episode of The Dale Jr. Download, Dale Jr. shared, “Amy told me I should run the Daytona 500 next year. Really? Yeah. I was like, what? We were laying in bed Sunday night after the race. She’s like, you should just drive it next year.”
However, Junior’s reaction was not what many of his fans would have liked. He stated, “I’m like, ‘Hello? Sorry? Are you okay? There’s a lot of momentum in this sport. Oh, man. I don’t know.”
He played it down on the show and left it hanging, giving neither a green light nor a red flag. That left the door cracked open, at least in theory. After Allgaier’s tumultuous run, many wondered if Junior might be tempted to dip a toe back into Cup waters, even if it is a one-off or a Daytona-only cameo.
But then later, he took to X to clear the air, writing, “I won’t be racing Cup but she’s not the reason.”
Since he retired from NASCAR, Junior has maintained a constant presence in the NASCAR Xfinity (now O’Reilly Auto Parts Series), having attempted at least one race every season, except last year. But the last time Junior took a swing at the Daytona 500 was in 2017, when he finished P37.
Still, with two wins in the sport’s crown jewel and a stat sheet that shows seven top-five finishes and four runner-up runs in the race, fans would line the fences if he ever chooses to change his mind and roll the dice again.
