Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s JR Motorsports team earned a long-awaited start at last Sunday's Daytona 500, and driver Justin Allgaier did not disappoint. The 38-year-old NASCAR star shepherded the No. 40 Chevy to a ninth-place finish in a field featuring the best drivers in the sport.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. blinked back tears as the moment socked him at Daytona International Speedway — a track bursting with triumph and tragedy for his family — that he was, with a country star and a NASCAR champ in tow,

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. stretched out his hand to Justin Allgaier on pit road after Allgaier finished ninth in Sunday’s Daytona 500 in the first race for Earnhardt as a Cup car owner.

Justin Allgaier, who has raced in only seven NASCAR Cup Series events since 2016, is stepping into Cup in the 500. It's a big deal for him, but even more so for his team owner, Dale Earnhardt Jr.

With a famous last name and a resume worthy of it, Dale Earnhardt Jr. pondered if owning a NASCAR Cup Series team was truly his destiny. JR Motorsports, the Xfinity Series team he and Kelley Earnhardt Miller have helmed since 2005,

Man, we got here, and we got a taste of it,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said about Justin Allgaier qualifying for the Daytona 500.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. spoke candidly after the Daytona 500 about the possibility of JR Motorsports going full-time NASCAR Cup Series racing.

"Where else do you go and barely make the field and cry tears of joy? Nowhere," Earnhardt said of the fabled speedway and race.

After admitting he was nervous about his team competing in the Daytona 500, Dale Earnhardt Jr. left the NASCAR Cup Series opener "very satisfied"