Atlanta Turning Point: Goliath’s Achilles’ heel, enigma that is the Georgia 1.5-miler

Posted on February 19, 2025February 20, 2025 by Pat DeCola

Here’s what’s happening in the world of NASCAR with the Daytona 500 in the rearview and Atlanta (Sun., 3 p.m. ET, FOX) up next.

THE LINEUP

1️⃣ Everything going right for Hendrick Motorsports … except that one thing

2️⃣ Cracking the code of back-to-back drafting tracks

3️⃣ ‘So Damn Close’ — here’s what happened last time

4️⃣ Martin Truex Jr. passes the baton to Joey Logano

5️⃣ Catch the pack — news and notes from around the garage

Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images

1. Everything going right for Hendrick Motorsports … except that one thing

Hendrick Motorsports has opened 2025 with two marquee victories, including the Daytona 500 — but its star driver and most recent champion Kyle Larson can’t seem to figure out how to stick the landing at superspeedways.

Hendrick Motorsports opened the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season with the kind of dominance that tends to finish with a flourish — and a championship.

William Byron’s Daytona 500 win to go back-to-back — a feat achieved by just five drivers in history — headlines a start that includes Chase Elliott’s dominant victory at Bowman Gray Stadium in the Cook Out Clash; the series-record fourth time the team has done that. The organization’s 10th Daytona 500 win tied Petty Enterprises for the most in history, and though it’s only February, the team should rightly expect all four of its drivers to make deep postseason runs.

Yet, amid the confetti and champagne, a glaring anomaly persists: Kyle Larson, the team’s most recent champion and arguably the sport’s most talented driver, remains conspicuously absent from any sort of superspeedway success that his teammates, particularly Byron, seem to enjoy regularly.

Crossing the mythology streams here a bit, but if there’s one Achilles’ heel to the Goliath that is Hendrick Motorsports — this is it.

The statistics tell a story of near-flawless execution for No. 24. Byron’s nine top-10 finishes in the last 11 drafting races (including three wins) underscore his mastery of NASCAR’s most chaotic tracks, while Elliott has won at Talladega and Atlanta and Bowman (Sunday’s sixth-place finisher) seems to have turned a corner on them in recent years, even landing the Daytona 500 pole in 2023.

But Larson’s superspeedway struggles defy logic.

The 2021 Cup Series champion, who can seemingly win at will on any other track or discipline of racing, continues to be plagued by crashes at the sport’s three superspeedways. Larson is 0-for-42 on drafting tracks, with nine DNFs at Daytona alone. While teammates Byron and Elliott draft with surgical precision, Larson’s aggressive style — a hallmark of his success on intermediate tracks — often leaves him vulnerable in the touchy nature of pack racing. His 20th-place Daytona finish extended a streak of futility that now stretches back to 2021 without seeing a top 10 there.

Hendrick vice chairman Jeff Gordon acknowledged the paradox in his post-race presser alongside Byron.

“Gosh, the guy (Larson) is not perfect. I think now I’m starting to see it’s getting in his head,” said the four-time champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer. “I’ve had a few conversations with him, and like, man, just go for it, just forget about it, don’t try to even overthink it. …

“I don’t know what advice to give him other than — all I told him today is just be Kyle Larson. Don’t try to be something you’re not. Don’t look at what somebody else is doing that’s having success. Just go out there and execute, and the other things will turn around and come your way eventually. I think. … It’s a head-scratcher, for sure.”

The team’s confidence in Larson isn’t misplaced, and despite the mountain of evidence against it, it still feels more likely than not he figures out how to finish cleanly. His 23 wins since joining Hendrick in 2021 lead all drivers, and his dominance at tracks of any other size/style of racing suggests the Daytona drought, at the very least, won’t derail his title bid. Still, the superspeedway gap looms larger in a playoff format where one bad race can eliminate even the most consistent contender. Thankfully for Larson, only one remains in this year’s postseason slate — Talladega.

And even if Larson might not factor into the finish this weekend at Atlanta (though, wouldn’t that be something if he did?) it’s only a matter of time before we see him back to his dominant ways elsewhere — just ask his Harley J. Earl-winning teammate.

“Wait until we get to Vegas, and he’ll just be ripping.”

team penske trio of driver share a selfie — Jonathan Bachman | Getty Images

2. Cracking the code of back-to-back drafting tracks

What’s the best way to follow up the Daytona 500? Why, with another superspeedway, of course! What can we take from what we just learned in the “Great American Race”? Will it still apply at Atlanta, a drafting-style 1.5-miler? You bet. Sort of.

This season’s Cup Series calendar once again delivers a one-two punch of drafting-track drama, following the spectacle of Daytona with Atlanta Motor Speedway’s hybrid 1.5-mile oval that races like a superspeedway — a track that defies categorization and has become a can’t-miss stop twice a year.

While Daytona’s 2.5-mile high banks demand precision (to an increasingly larger degree) in pack racing, Atlanta’s reconfigured surface, repaved in 2022 to mimic drafting conditions with 28-degree banking and narrowed lanes, creates a unique challenge. Here, the chaos of pack racing collides with the tire management demands of an intermediate track, forcing teams to recalibrate strategies in real-time while not having the luxury of 2.5-mile track lap times to fix any damage. The result is a laboratory for innovation, where past trends of the Atlanta of old crumble under the weight of asphalt attrition and the Next Gen car’s evolving dynamic.

Atlanta’s unique identity has become its defining characteristic. Designed to replicate Daytona’s pack racing, the track initially rewarded bold drafting maneuvers, but as the asphalt continues to age, tire wear — an Atlanta staple for years — is re-emerging as an unexpected variable. Drivers now report handling drops quickly after 15 laps, a phenomenon more akin to Darlington’s abrasive surface than traditional superspeedways. This duality has rewritten the playbook for success here — where early Atlanta races with this reconfiguration favored drivers who dominated in laps led, recent events punish front-runners, with no driver leading the most laps in the past three Atlanta races finishing better than 10th. Todd Gilliland’s 2024 collapse from 58 laps led to a 26th-place result, courtesy of a late flat tire, epitomizes this shift. Teams must now balance aggression with preservation; a tightrope walk that has exposed weaknesses in even the most storied programs.

Toyota’s Atlanta struggles highlight this new reality.

RELATED: Atlanta Cup entry list

The manufacturer hasn’t won here since Kyle Busch’s 2013 victory, a 15-race drought that defies its superspeedway and general prowess elsewhere. Despite fielding competitive cars, Toyota drivers have managed just five top-five finishes in six Next Gen-era Atlanta races, with Denny Hamlin’s fourth-place run in 2024 standing as its best result. This contrasts starkly with Busch’s Georgia resurgence at Richard Childress Racing, where his four consecutive Atlanta top 10s stem from a focus on mechanical grip and classic RCR superspeedway speed. Perhaps, after a noticeable uptick in speed for Toyotas at Daytona (including the manufacturer’s first 500 pole), this could shift come Sunday.

While Toyota grapples with grip, Team Penske has built a drafting-track dynasty in recent years.

The Ford powerhouse has led 898 laps on superspeedways since 2023 — triple that of even Hendrick Motorsports’ total — through a blend of strategic restraint, technical ingenuity and, above all else, teamwork — no lineup works better together on superspeedways than the trio of Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric and reigning three-time champ Joey Logano.

The discipline and collaboration starts well ahead of race weekend, in the shop and the sim, extending eventually to real-time collaboration. During Atlanta’s 2024 playoff race, Blaney’s late surge from fourth to second created a draft pocket that slingshotted Logano to victory — a move rehearsed in pre-race simulator sessions.

Though Byron wound up with the win, Penske was once again dominant at Daytona, combining to lead 125 of the race’s 201 laps.

NASCAR’s playoff format elevates the stakes of drafting-track performance — both Atlanta races are in the regular season this year, potentially adding another wild-card driver into the playoffs — so there could be an added degree of pressure to the track’s pair of events in 2025 on top of the already unpredictable nature. In NASCAR’s evolving landscape, Atlanta stands as one of its major paradoxes — a track where momentum is fleeting, and survival is an art. Those who crack its code unlock not just a provisional playoff spot, but a blueprint for conquering the unpredictable. For everyone else, the 1.5-mile enigma remains a puzzle wrapped in tire smoke, waiting to be solved.

Logan Riely | Getty Images

3. ‘So Damn Close’ — here’s what happened last time

As NASCAR returns to the scene of the third-closest finish in Cup Series history, the three key players sit down together to rehash the legendary moment.

4. Martin Truex Jr. passes the baton to Joey Logano

We saw the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion return for a one-off start in the Daytona 500 to extend his legendary consecutive starts streak to 685 straight races, but that will end this weekend with Truex not expected to race at Atlanta. Next man up? Our three-time champion. (Credit: Racing Insights)

Driver	Car	Streak length
Joey Logano	No. 22 Team Penske Ford	577
Brad Keselowski	No. 6 RFK Racing Ford	545
Denny Hamlin	No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota	392
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet	365
Kyle Busch	No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet	350
Ryan Blaney	No. 12 Team Penske Ford	326

5. Catch the pack — news and notes from around the garage

Power Rankings: Daytona 500 champ Byron delivering accolades beyond his years

William Byron takes in ‘WWE Raw.’ tours New York City

Drivers to win back-to-back Daytona 500s

JR Motorsports’ successful Daytona 500 venture validates Dale Jr.’s Cup visions

‘Not all luck’: Byron threads needle, enters Daytona ether with back-to-back 500s

‘So Damn Close’: Reprising Atlanta’s three-wide thriller with all the key players

Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon criticize Joey Logano’s late moves at Daytona

Three Up, Three Down: Drivers in focus leaving Daytona

Paint Scheme Preview: 2025 Atlanta spring weekend

Jeff Gordon has ‘talked’ with Tom Cruise about ‘Days of Thunder’ sequel

Late wrecks highlight desperation that comes in Daytona 500 chase

@nascarcasm: Fake texts to Daytona 500 winner William Byron

fans cheer at atlanta motor speedway — Logan Riely | Getty Images

Posted on February 19, 2025 by Zack Albert

John Hunter Nemechek responded to remarks lobbed his way by fellow driver Denny Hamlin on Wednesday, saying he was uncertain why he was singled out in the latest episode of his podcast after Sunday’s Daytona 500.

Nemechek’s remarks came in a media availability Wednesday afternoon, three days after his fifth-place finish in Sunday’s season-opening event. The result was part of a banner day for his Legacy Motor Club team, led by owner/driver Jimmie Johnson’s third-place effort and teammate Erik Jones in 12th.

Hamlin made an extended critique of the Daytona 500 finish earlier this week in his “Actions Detrimental” podcast, saying that superspeedway skill had been minimized by current NASCAR Cup Series rules and procedures. “I just want to see us do something different, to put the sport back in it and take luck back out of these prestigious events,” Hamlin said.

Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 winner, said that Sunday’s victory by William Byron — who squirted past a last-lap crash that foiled Hamlin and multiple others — helped to legitimize the outcome, given Byron’s star power and his ability to repeat in the “Great American Race.” Hamlin then asked rhetorically, “Let me ask you this, how do we feel if John Hunter Nemechek was in William Byron’s spot?” before offering, “that’s not a knock on John Hunter. I just think that, I believe that the people would view it differently.”

Nemechek said he was made aware of Hamlin’s comments in the moments before Wednesday’s availability, adding that he hadn’t discussed them with his fellow Toyota driver. He added that Hamlin was one of the drivers he confided in when he was at a career crossroads after the 2020 season.

“I mean, I guess I get it from the perspective that I haven’t necessarily made a name for myself in the Cup Series yet, but that’s what I’m here to do,” said Nemechek, who is beginning his second season with Legacy M.C. “I’m out on the race track, racing as hard as I can. We’re up front with Denny at the end. He was pushing me, and our car wasn’t super-fast to lead the lane, but he stayed committed to me. So in that circumstance, I know that he’s pissed about not winning the race, but like I said, I’m here to make a name for myself as well, whether that’s winning the Daytona 500 or winning another race throughout the year. Yes, anyone can win at the Daytona 500 or any superspeedway race, in my opinion. But to second that, I would also say that you have to put yourself in the right position. You have to execute all day as a race-car driver, and there are a few guys that are really good at superspeedways, and they’re the ones that are always up there.

“For my Cup career at Daytona, especially, I finished relatively well in every start, so I’m not really sure why I was the example of that, but from the standpoint of promoting the sport and things of that sort, I guess, like I said, William already has his name established from winning a bunch of races, being a championship contender, and I really haven’t had that shot yet in the NASCAR Cup Series, so not really sure what he was thinking or where his head is at with that. Part of me wants to say, ‘Screw you, Denny,’ but at the same time, I also have to earn respect from those guys, and I get that. But I feel like, for myself, I feel like I do a great job promoting the sport, and I’m not saying he said that I don’t.”

MORE: Atlanta weekend schedule | Paint Scheme Preview

Nemechek and the rest of the Legacy Motor Club organization aim to build on their solid showing in Daytona Speedweeks in Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400 (3 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Atlanta Motor Speedway, an intermediate-sized track with superspeedway-style characteristics. The 27-year-old driver pointed to a handful of key personnel moves that LMC made to prepare for the 2025 season, plus its learnings from a week in Daytona, as reasons for optimism.

“It’s a testament to everyone that is working hard and a lot of long hours during the offseason in the shop and just trying to get the place running smoothly and like we want it to be able to be a contender one day,” Nemechek said. “Brick by brick, we want to build this place to be able to try and win races and have the opportunity to win championships.”

Posted on February 19, 2025 by Team Release

In 2025, Hendrick Motorsports will field its No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet in a 16-race NASCAR Xfinity Series slate featuring the organization’s four NASCAR Cup Series stars and newcomer Corey Day. The effort will be led by crew chief Adam Wall.

William Byron will kick off the schedule March 1 at Circuit of The Americas, marking his first of two races in the No. 17 Chevy. Kyle Larson will also make two appearances while teammates Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman will each drive once.

MORE: Full Xfinity Series schedule

Day is scheduled for 10 starts for the team, including his Xfinity Series debut March 29 at Martinsville Speedway. The 19-year-old dirt racing phenom signed with Hendrick Motorsports in December and will race nearly 30 pavement events in 2025 across a variety of series.

“We’re pleased to continue our sponsorship of the No. 17 team, which has driven significant traffic to HendrickCars.com and helped support the broader goals of Hendrick Automotive Group,” said Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports and chairman and chief executive officer of Hendrick Automotive Group. “With Adam, we have one of the sharpest young crew chiefs in the garage area leading our team. The Xfinity Series competition is tough, and we’re looking forward to the challenge.”

Wall, 35, spent the 2024 season as a crew chief for Hendrick Motorsports affiliate JR Motorsports where he spearheaded Xfinity Series efforts for drivers Sammy Smith and Brandon Jones. He joined Hendrick Motorsports as an engineer in 2011 before spending three seasons at JRM from 2016-2018. Wall returned to Hendrick Motorsports the following year, rising to become the lead race engineer for Larson and winning the 2021 Cup Series championship.

“Hendrick Motorsports has opened a lot of doors for me,” Wall said. “Because of the valuable experience I’ve gained, I feel very prepared for this opportunity. I’m excited about the chance to go racing with our Cup drivers and work with a young talent like Corey. Anyone who follows dirt knows he’s the real deal. We have high expectations as a team and look forward to a great year.”

Since 2022, the No. 17 HendrickCars.com team has recorded two wins (both in 2024), four pole positions, 11 top-five finishes and 13 top-10s in 20 Xfinity Series starts with a variety of drivers.

No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 2025 Schedule:
March 1 – William Byron, Circuit of The Americas
March 8 – Alex Bowman, Phoenix Raceway
March 22 – Kyle Larson, Homestead-Miami Speedway
March 29 – Corey Day, Martinsville Speedway
April 5 – Chase Elliott, Darlington Raceway
April 12 – Kyle Larson, Bristol Motor Speedway
May 3 – Corey Day, Texas Motor Speedway
May 24 – William Byron, Charlotte Motor Speedway
May 31 – Corey Day, Nashville Superspeedway
July 12 – Corey Day, Sonoma Raceway
Aug. 2 – Corey Day, Iowa Speedway
Sept. 12 – Corey Day, Bristol Motor Speedway
Oct. 4 – Corey Day, Charlotte Roval
Oct. 11 – Corey Day, Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Oct. 25 – Corey Day, Martinsville Speedway
Nov. 1 – Corey Day, Phoenix Raceway

Posted on February 19, 2025 by Nate Ryan

NASCAR race director Jusan Hamilton joined the latest episode of the “Hauler Talk” podcast for a behind-the-scenes look inside the scoring tower and how cautions are called.

He also admitted to questioning some of his own calls — such as the yellow flag just before the finish of the second Duel qualifying race last week at Daytona International Speedway,

“So hindsight is always 20/20, and that’s one when you look back, I would say we could do it differently,” Hamilton said. “I would say that we could let them get to the start/finish line, but that’s looking back now on a Tuesday, going through all of our reviews and having the luxury of time to review the full situation.”

Hamilton, who is one of four race directors who works NASCAR’s top three national series, also explained the decision to hold the yellow and allow the Daytona 500 to end under the checkered flag.

Daytona has two primary “cutouts” in the infield that allow safety crews to scramble onto the track toward a crash. One is in Turn 1, which puts crews heading toward race traffic. The other, in Turn 2, lets crews exit into the flow of the race direction. Because the final Daytona 500 crash occurred on the backstretch, Hamilton said NASCAR was comfortable with safety vehicles reaching the scene without the interference of race traffic, so the race ended under green.

“As soon as the wreck happens, because all vehicles have passed by that Turn 2 cutout, we’re able to respond, sending the fire trucks, the ambulances, the AMR chase vehicles to respond to that incident before the leaders even made it to the checkered, even though there’s no caution,” Hamilton said. “Moving forward and always, our goal is to get to a green-flag finish. We do not want to be the ones determining the race by how fast we push the caution button or the decisions that we make in race control in general. We want that to be decided by the competitors on the ground. So any opportunity that we have to do that, we’re going to take advantage.

“But, and I know this is not generally something that a fan at home is thinking about certainly, but the function of the caution is about safety, and that is something that the race directors and emergency services coordinators have to be aligned on.

“So, if we see something that rises to the level that we have to immediately respond — for instance, a vehicle leaving the ground or vehicles barreling down on other vehicles that are already in a wreck at a high rate of speed — we have to react to that. And that story may not always be told by what you’re watching in the broadcast, but from the resources that we have in the tower and past experience studying these races and trying to improve as an entire group.”

After NASCAR’s weekly competition briefing, Hamilton said the race directors have a separate weekly call to review video from the most recent races “and break down the calls that could have been done better and differently.

“The weight of getting these calls correct is definitely not lost on us,” he said. “And our goal is to obviously do better as we move forward.”

Other topics covered during the second episode of “Hauler Talk,” which explores competition issues in NASCAR with co-hosts Mike Forde and Amanda Ellis of the communications department:

— The next steps being taken with Ryan Preece’s car after his airborne wreck at Daytona.

— The potential for rules changes ahead of the race at Talladega Superspeedway.

— The new Damaged Vehicle Policy rules that affected Kyle Busch at the end of the Daytona 500.

— How calls on weather were made at Daytona.

Click on the embed above to listen or search for “Hauler Talk” wherever you download podcasts to hear it on your phone, tablet or mobile device.

Nate Ryan has written about NASCAR since 1996 while working at the San Bernardino Sun, Richmond Times-Dispatch, USA TODAY and for the past 10 years at NBC Sports Digital. He also has covered various other motorsports, including the IndyCar and IMSA series.

Posted on February 19, 2025 by Dustin Albino

Since the day Sam Mayer turned 18 years old at Pocono Raceway in 2021, he was part of the JR Motorsports family. It was his NASCAR identity.

After a few roller-coaster seasons, including a four-win 2023 season and a Championship 4 appearance, change was needed for the now 21-year-old. In mid-August at Michigan International Speedway, Haas Factory Team executive Joe Custer announced the Wisconsin native as one of the organization’s two drivers for the 2025 Xfinity Series season.

“I’m definitely ready to turn the page and have a new chapter in the Xfinity Series with Haas Factory,” Mayer told NASCAR.com bluntly, “because they are going to do wonders in my career.”

Mayer matured on and off the track during his tenure at JRM. With the guidance of crew chief Mardy Lindley, who he worked with dating back to his time in the ARCA Menards Series with GMS Racing, Mayer made incremental progress yearly.

By departing JRM, he was going on his own. But he won’t soon forget his time driving the No. 1 Chevrolet while transitioning to a new manufacturer, piloting the No. 41 Ford.

“It was quite the adventure and a lot of fun,” Mayer said of his time at JRM. “I had a lot of ups and downs. They treated me well and made a home for me. I appreciate all the time that I’ve spent for them.”

By joining Haas Factory Team, Custer landed one of the most sought-after free-agent drivers. He sees a monumental upside to Mayer, who is coming off consecutive seasons with at least three victories.

“I feel Sam is one of the preeminent raw talents,” Custer stated. “Sam is younger and a little more raw in a good way. With Sam, I don’t want to say we need to corral him, but we need to give him more confidence again that if something goes wrong or whatever, the car is there, the pit crew is there, the team is behind him. I’m looking for him to take what he’s done and deliver in our stuff.”

The decision to move on from JRM was simple for Mayer. With Cole Custer earning consecutive Championship 4 appearances, including the 2023 championship, he knew the opportunity for success was apparent with the organization formerly known as Stewart-Haas Racing.

“It’s been crazy because this is the first time that I’m making a lateral move in the same series to a new team,” he stated. “It’s been quite the experience for me. The Haas Factory boys have been amazing to work with already.”

It was important for Mayer to secure a multiyear deal with HFT to have some stability moving forward. The contract prolongs his dream of racing in the Cup Series, but he’s focused on being competitive weekly.

By switching to another top-tier team, Mayer knows the demands it takes to be successful. He feels free at HFT, knowing the support of the organization behind him.

“I can just walk into the shop and be whoever I want to be,” he said. “It’s a great feeling to walk in there and feel like I’m the [expletive]. I want to have that confidence that I can dominate the weekend because, at the end of the day, it’s a winning organization and something I want to do.”

MORE: Bennett Transportation and Logistics 250 entry list

While Haas’ Cup Series team has scaled back to one full-time entry, the company has added employees to its Xfinity lineup and is focused on being in contention to win every race.

Before 2024, Haas’ depth in the Cup Series weaved into its Xfinity program. Not having that as much starting in 2025 is something that’s on Custer’s mind with the rebrand.

“We did lean on some Cup resources for engineering, design,” Custer said. “We have all those capabilities, just not the depth. You could argue that one of our challenges is to make sure our Xfinity program doesn’t suffer from some of those changes, reductions on the Cup side. We have our eyes on that and we have to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Immediate areas of growth for Mayer are getting up to speed at the track quicker during practice and qualifying to set the precedent for race day. It’s crucial for the No. 41 team to begin the season strong, as he scored four finishes of 30th or worse — and three DNFs — in the opening seven races of 2024. He ended 2024 with career lows in top fives (eight), top 10s (13), average finish (18.0) and tallied eight DNFs.

The presumption for 2025 is that the two-car organization will be strong.

“We have the recipe for success,” Mayer noted. “The goal is to go win a championship. I haven’t done that yet and I want to break my win record of four; I’m going to try to get five. I know that’s lofty, but we want to go and do it. We’re here to dominate.”

Mayer kicked off 2025 with a runner-up finish at Daytona while his teammate Sheldon Creed placed close behind in third.

Posted on February 18, 2025February 19, 2025 by Zach Sturniolo

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — 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, has gone on to net rousing success with 88 wins and four drivers championships in the stock-car rank just beneath the top-level Cup Series, where Earnhardt Jr. and his late father Dale Earnhardt, a seven-time champion, enjoyed significant success.

RELATED: Daytona 500 results | At-track photos

Getting JRM to the Cup Series has long been a desire for Dale Jr. He just wasn’t sure where that motive originated.

“Sometimes you wonder, because of growing up in the sport and your last name, are you making yourself do this because it’s what you think you’re supposed to do? Do you really want to do it?” Earnhardt Jr. said Sunday.

He learned after the 2025 Daytona 500 that the answer is a resounding yes.

JR Motorsports made its Cup debut appearance in the 67th annual “Great American Race” with reigning Xfinity champion Justin Allgaier piloting the No. 40 Chevrolet to a remarkable ninth-place finish in the program’s inaugural outing. A historian of the sport — and a two-time Daytona 500 champion himself — Earnhardt Jr. felt no need to hide his elation after an emotionally trying yet tremendously rewarding Speedweeks.

“It really was good for me, I think, to come here and experience this to see if it was truly something that I felt like I wanted,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “[…] I think this helped me understand that I do want to be here personally. I do feel like it’s what I should be striving for.”

A revelation all the same, there is little, if any, surprise that Earnhardt found the answer he was looking for. Earnhardt has longed for a chance to see his team expand into Cup. But now that this Daytona 500 effort confirmed any of those lingering questions, one remains: How does JRM find its way to full-time status on Sundays?

“We’re always ready. Have been for years, so we’ll see,” Earnhardt said. “When we started putting this deal together, I told Kelley, you never know what this experience might drum up and in terms of interest for some partners that want to help us get here full time.”

MORE: Earnhardt on complex relationship with Daytona

Earnhardt understands if fans are exhausted after hearing rumors of JRM’s interest in Cup racing without a definitive timeline or path to that moment’s rise. But for him and Earnhardt Miller to contest a full-time team in the NASCAR Cup Series, the timing has always had to be right. That includes doing it with the right partners to provide the necessary funding. This time, it was country music star Chris Stapleton and his brand, Traveller Whiskey, who helped bring the No. 40 Chevrolet to the track. Whether it’s Traveller Whiskey in the future or other interested sponsors, Earnhardt hopes the right situation comes along to help JRM reach its ultimate Cup Series aspirations.

“We’ve been on the phone and at the table with other people that were interested in investing in charters that didn’t work out,” Earnhardt said. “But we could have some brand new conversations. So you just wait and see. If it’s meant to be, it’ll happen.”

Ethan Smith | For NASCAR Digital Media

What was meant to be Sunday night was a splendid performance from Allgaier, who proved JRM hired the right driver and the right crewmen to fight for 502.5 miles around Daytona International Speedway. A staple of NASCAR’s national series since 2009 (and with sporadic starts prior), Allgaier muscled through multiple on-track mishaps in the “Great American Race” to score his second career Cup Series top 10 in his 83rd start, netting his first such result since an eighth-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2015.

As he stood on pit road next to his chariot, Allgaier looked back and saw the entire left-front fender ripped from his Chevrolet, the story of his night, he said, was “perseverance.”

“When you know you’re coming for a one-off, you know that this is going to be a unique experience,” Allgaier said. “People, equipment, tools. I mean, there’s so much stuff. I’ve already said it once, but just so thankful to having great people around us. Thankful for Hendrick Motorsports giving us a guy like Greg Ives to be able to use as a crew chief and have more knowledge, right?

“I think that this car has closed the gap so much to everything we’ve ever done, and to start a team in this sport right now is so hard. And what we accomplished today, it wasn’t pretty. We weren’t the fastest car on the race track all night. We didn’t do the best thing all night. I didn’t make the right moves 99% of the time. But when it’s all said and done, we came out of here with a race car that rolls and a solid top 10 finish. It’s hard to be sad about that. But, man, I’m really proud of what they accomplished and for allowing me to be a really smart part of it.”

Earnhardt believes that JR Motorsports “can be successful here” if it indeed works its way to the Cup Series on a full-time basis. So while Allgaier may have achieved JRM’s first top-10 finish in Cup, Earnhardt sees more ahead.

“I think that with the new charter model, it’s more economical to be here,” Earnhardt said. “And so I feel like with our ability to draw interest in terms of sponsorship and support, it’s an economical model for us with the new charter agreement, and I feel like that the charters will continue to increase in value. So if there’s somebody that watches what we’re doing here that’s not involved in the sport but would invest in this, we would be a good partner to consider because we know we have a good business model in the Xfinity Series. We know we have the ability to bring sponsor interest to our teams to be able to help fund our operation.

“But I think the overall hurdle is the initial investment in the charter. And I can put some money in, but I cannot — I will not, even if I had it — I would not buy the entire thing myself. I can’t risk my kids’ inheritance and future on some idea of my own. That’s a selfish thing. But I would certainly want to be an investor in any charter that we would be involved in. And the charters, I think, are at the value now to where you almost have to have partners to get in if you’re somebody like myself. But we’ll see.”

In the meantime, the thrill of competing and succeeding in the Daytona 500 is a moment the Earnhardts and all involved will savor forever.

“I’ll remember this race for a long time,” Allgaier said. “Regardless of the finish or any of the other stuff, just the emotions of the whole week. I’ll remember this experience for a long time.”

Posted on February 18, 2025February 19, 2025 by Staff Report

NASCAR could be heading back into the spotlight of Hollywood — and Hendrick Motorsports’ Jeff Gordon has its full endorsement.

After William Byron’s second consecutive Daytona 500 victory, Gordon spoke about a potential sequel to “Days of Thunder,” a 1990 film that starred Gordon’s close friend, Tom Cruise. The Golden Globe Award-winning actor plays Cole Trickle, who is recruited to join the Winston Cup Series after a career in open-wheel racing. Trickle builds a rivalry with veteran racer Rowdy Burns, but after both are injured in a crash, they bury their feud and become close friends.

With many new digital and streaming platforms, Gordon wants to see the film happen with Cruise returning as a star.

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“There’s this kind of resurgence, which is awesome, and there’s also a whole new landscape of opportunities with streaming services and docuseries and also the big screen, which I think it would be amazing to do,” Gordon said Sunday night. “I am seeing just a lot more momentum in projects like this coming through NASCAR and coming to Hendrick Motorsports and just more interest. So that’s good, right? It talks a lot about where the sport is at, where it’s heading, the amazing crowd that was [at Daytona], not just today, new TV partners.

“I’ve absolutely talked to Tom about it because I want him to do the project, and we want to be a part of it if it were to happen.”

Thirty-five years later, the technology is much different. Paramount Pictures placed large cameras inside cars during races for the film, but with NASCAR’s Driver Cam feature on Max, it could present a real possibility for the creation of a sequel.

“Hendrick Motorsports being a part of that project, hard to imagine how you pull that off today because they actually had race cars with cameras in the race, and the cameras were big,” Gordon said. “Cameras have gotten a lot smaller so maybe you could pull it off, but how do you do it and make it realistic and really authentic.

“We’ll see what happens. If that doesn’t happen, I feel pretty confident there’s a project out there that will get NASCAR back on the big screen, if not just a really cool docuseries or something beyond even what we’re already seeing right now.”

Posted on February 18, 2025February 21, 2025 by Pat DeCola

William Byron won his second straight Daytona 500 and the “Great American Race” opened the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season with a bang.

NASCAR.com’s Pat DeCola ranks the top 20 Cup Series contenders after the 2025 Daytona 500 and before the Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.