Why Daytona 500 will have extra car as Dale – Sports News
The 2026 Daytona 500 will look a little completely different, due to seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, a lot to the aid of the likes of Dale Earnhardt Jr.
It was lately introduced that Johnson, within the No. 84 Legacy Motor Club Toyota, had been granted an “Open Exemption Provisional” spot to enter the Cup Series season opener.
This is a rule that was launched for the 2025 season, permitting “a special or invited entrant” to attempt to qualify for a race. If the driving force made the highest 40 in qualifying, then the sphere would stay 40 vehicles as per common, with the opposite non-chartered entrants at better risk of being cut as 37 vehicles have been primarily assured a race begin – together with the OEP.
If the OEP didn’t make the cut in qualifying, they have been nonetheless assured a begin, however as the forty first entrant, with 4 spots open alongside the OEP and the 36 charters.
This was altered in March 2025 in order that, whether or not or not the OEP made the grade in qualifying, there would nonetheless be 41 entries that week, principally making certain that there would at all times be 4 open entrant spots obtainable, even when an OEP was set to take part.
Thanks to this rule change, groups like JR Motorsports, co-owned by Earnhardt Jr., will have a higher probability of reaching the 500 this season than they’d have had beforehand.
This comes after JRM introduced its intention to attempt to qualify for its second consecutive Daytona 500, with Justin Allgaier back behind the wheel. In 2025, the then reigning Xfinity Series champion certified for the 500 and in the end crossed the road an spectacular ninth in what was the workforce’s first-ever Cup Series race.
“It’s definitely special to be able to make another run at the DAYTONA 500 with Traveller Whiskey, Chris Stapleton, Dale, Kelley and everyone at JR Motorsports,” Allgaier stated in a assertion.
“Last year was such an amazing experience and I am just thankful to be the one that gets to be behind the wheel of this No. 40. We had such a great time last year and I can’t wait to get down there and do it all again.”
Johnson, the proprietor of Legacy, additionally certified for the 2025 race within the No. 84 for the third straight 12 months, having retired from full-time Cup Series racing after the 2020 season. He managed an spectacular third-place end, a season best for the workforce, and his best-ever consequence within the NextGen car, which was launched in 2022.
Along with the 500, Johnson can also be planning to compete within the inaugural race on the Naval Base Coronado in San Diego – close to the place the 50-year-old grew up. What’s more, it was introduced on Thursday that he additionally plans to run that weekend’s Craftsman Truck Series race with Tricon Garage.
This will be an event to recollect as not solely will it’s his first Truck race since 2008, nevertheless it will be solely his second up to now within the sequence.
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