JR Motorsports enters Daytona 500 with Justin Allgaier in partnership with Chris Stapleton

JR Motorsports announced Wednesday that Dale Earnhardt Jr’s race team will enter the Daytona 500 NASCAR Cup Series race with driver Justin Allgaier and sponsored by country music star Chris Stapleton’s whiskey brand.

The Associated Press first reported the news.

JRM, a multi-car race team that is one of the Xfinity Series’ stalwarts, is entering a Cup Series race for the firs time, though Allgaier will have to make the field via qualifying as an open, non-charter entry.

Allgaier’s No. 40 Chevrolet will be sponsored by Traveller Whiskey, Stapleton’s blended whiskey created in partnership with Buffalo Trace Distillery.

JRM’s entry is one of at least six open entries that will be battling for four spots in the Daytona 500 field via qualifying time and the duel qualifying races. There are expected to be at least two more announced open entries, including unannounced entries for former Cup champions Jimmie Johnson and Martin Truex Jr.

Allgaier, the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion, has made two starts in the Daytona 500 before, in 2014 and 2015. Allgaier was the substitute driver who started and finished Kyle Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in last year’s Coca-Cola 600, finishing 13th.

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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: JR Motorsports enters Daytona 500 with Justin Allgaier as driver