By David Morgan, Associate Editor
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Vibes are high among the No. 40 JR Motorsports team heading into Sunday’s 68th running of the Daytona 500.
Returning to the World Center of Racing for the second year in a row as a NASCAR Cup Series team, JRM is looking to improve on its top-10 finish in last year’s race on the Daytona high banks that saw them finish ninth in a battered and beaten Traveller Whiskey Chevrolet.
This time around, they were able to time in on speed Wednesday night, avoiding the stress of the Duels, instead electing to protect their investment for Sunday’s main event.
Though they’ll start from the back of the pack when the green flag drops, driver Justin Allgaier is bullish that they will be contenders when it’s all said and done.
“I don’t know if I should feel good or not about it,” Allgaier said. “I feel like we got a car that can go win the race. After the way practice went yesterday and the stuff that we worked on, I felt like the team just absolutely crushed it.
“Great guys and that whole 40 team to have Traveller Whiskey back on board, Chris Stapelton will be here [Sunday]. That program has been a lot of fun to see it come together and I’m proud of the effort. It sucked running around at the back of the Duel all night knowing that we had a car that was plenty capable of running up front.”
Allgaier noted that having all of the track time he has had in the Cup Series car, along with his regular duties in his No. 7 Chevrolet in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series should play dividends as they prepare for Sunday.
“And a lot of the things that we learned here, the Hendrick engine shop, the folks at Chevrolet, all the things that we’re learning over here on the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series side, really for me translate over there. Now granted, it’s different, the car is different, all of those things, but I really feel strongly that we can go over there [Sunday] and have a good solid day.”
After finishing in the runner-up position in the O’Reilly season opener on Saturday night, Allgaier added that there were nerves about running in his sixth Daytona 500, and his second with JRM.
But the good kind of nerves.
“I don’t know what time it is now, but I don’t know, I’m probably not going to sleep well if I’m being honest with you,” Allgaier said as he looked at his watch on pit road after Saturday night’s race.
“Not because I’m nervous. Man, I’m so excited. That car is so fun to drive. Look, I miss the Cup Series. Plain and simple. I do miss the Cup Series. This opportunity, if I were to ever go back to the Cup Series, would have to be what it would be to do this full-time. And I cannot believe the effort that we’ve put in at JR Motorsports to go make that happen. And it doesn’t come easy.
“I think the folks at Hendrick Motorsports probably were ready for us to stop asking questions on what we needed to do to make a car go fast. But they’ve gone out of their way to make sure that we understand what we need to do to be faster.
“And I don’t know, man. [Sunday]’s going to be a lot of fun.”
The Great American Race is scheduled for 1:30 pm ET on FOX, moved up an hour to try and avoid inclement weather that is forecasted to move into Daytona Beach later in the afternoon into the evening. The 200-lap event will go green at 2:13 pm ET.
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