Dale Earnhardt Jr. breaks down why Justin Allgaier was picked for JR Motorsports Daytona 500 entry

Dale Earnhardt Jr. rocked the NASCAR world last week, with his announcement regarding JR Motorsports entering reigning Xfinity Series champion Justin Allgaier into next month’s Daytona 500.

The attempt will be part of a partnership with 10-time Grammy Award-winning artist Chris Stapleton, whose whiskey label Traveller Whiskey will sponsor the JR Motorsports Chevrolet. It’ll also mark the first time JR Motorsports has entered a car in a Cup Series race.

In theory, JR Motorsports could’ve chosen anyone to drive their hot-rod, but Earnhardt Jr. knew Allgaier was the one he wanted behind the wheel. On the latest episode of the Dale Jr. Download, the NASCAR Hall of Fame Inductee and Kelley Earnhardt Miller explained why they decided to give Allgaier the opportunity of a lifetime.

“We are going to have Justin Allgaier driver the car. When we sat down and really thought about it, one of the things that I appreciate about Justin is, not only is he fast, and not only has he helped us — had a lot of success here at JR Motorsports, but his professionalism off the race track, with our partners. He does a great job with his crew. Engaging with his team. Keeps a solid attitude, outside of the car and inside the car,” Earnhardt explained, regarding why Allgaier was chosen for the ride. “So, if you’re going to go to the Daytona 500, in my mind — I have no idea, [Kelly] has no idea whether we’ll ever do this again. We don’t know. But this is really — we have no other plans to ever enter another event, this year at least.

“Going to the Daytona 500, you want a driver that obviously can go out and do a good job, and he’s very capable, but I think, in our situation, it’s never been more paramount or more important that the job the driver does outside the car has to be done well, because this is a one-shot for Traveler. They need a great experience. They need to come away from this thinking — they’re not looking at just performance on the track, right? They need a lot of things to happen. A lot of things they want to accomplish that won’t happen on the race track in this whole process.

“Justin is a guy that can really help us get to that mark, and meet those targets for them. It wasn’t as simple as, ‘Who do we think can win the Daytona 500?'”

All told, it makes a ton of sense why Dale Earnhardt Jr. picked Justin Allgaier to pilot the No. 40 Chevrolet in the Daytona 500. It’ll be a landmark moment for JR Motorsports, and the one-off ride will certainly have its fair-share of fans hoping it ends up in Victory Lane when the time comes.