JR Motorsports (pronounced "Junior Motorsports") is an American professional stock car racing team based in Mooresville, North Carolina, co-owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kelley Earnhardt Miller, L. W. Miller, and Rick Hendrick. It currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, CARS Late Model Stock Tour, and occasionally in the NASCAR Local Racing Series Powered by O'Reilly Auto Parts.
The team fields the No. 40 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 part-time at the NASCAR Cup Series for Justin Allgaier. The team also fields four full-time entries in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series: the No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro SS full-time for Carson Kvapil and Connor Zilisch, the No. 7 full-time for Allgaier, the No. 8 full-time for Sammy Smith, the No. 88 full-time for multiple drivers, as well as the No. 9 part-time for multiple drivers. The team fields the No. 88 Chevrolet full-time in the CARS Late Model Stock Tour for Caden Kvapil.
History
JR Motorsports began in a shed on the property of Dale Earnhardt, Inc. in 1998 with just one employee, as the marketing division of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s race team. It wasn't until 2002 that Earnhardt Jr. turned the business into a race team when T. J. Majors drove in the street stock division at Concord Speedway in North Carolina. Upon Earnhardt Jr.'s signing with Hendrick Motorsports, the Hendrick and JR Motorsports Nationwide Series teams were merged.
The first win for the team came at Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, Virginia, in 2004. (At the time, Earnhardt Jr. was co-owner of another racing venture, Chance 2 Motorsports.) JR Motorsports in its current form, competing in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, started in 2006 when sponsorship from the United States Navy funded the team. The team originally wanted to open in 2007, but the Navy sponsorship accelerated operations.
Today, the team operates out of a race shop near Mooresville, North Carolina.
In early 2019, it was announced that JR Motorsports had formed a driver development program with GMS Racing, Drivers Edge Development, to train young drivers. Drivers in the program would race in JR Motorsports' Late Model and NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series teams, as well as GMS Racing's NASCAR K&N Pro Series, ARCA Menards Series, and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series teams. The inaugural class of drivers, which was announced on January 24, 2019, included Noah Gragson, John Hunter Nemechek, Zane Smith, Sheldon Creed, Sam Mayer, and Adam Lemke. Carson Hocevar also joined the program later in 2019. The 2023 season was the last for the program when GMS Racing closed down. The class of drivers in the DED program that year included GMS Truck Series drivers Rajah Caruth and Daniel Dye, as well as JRM late model driver Carson Kvapil.
On April 11, 2021, Earnhardt Jr. hinted that JR Motorsports may move up to the Cup Series, given the proposed savings associated with the debut of the Next Gen car in 2022. The challenges for the team are acquiring a charter and securing sponsorship for a Cup program.
On August 24, 2022, Director of Competition Ryan Pemberton parted ways with JR Motorsports after working with the team since 2012. On September 1, Mike Bumgarner was announced as Pemberton's replacement.
Cup Series
During a press conference at Lowe's Motor Speedway on May 16, 2008, Earnhardt stated that once the Nationwide (now O'Reilly Auto Parts) Series started using the Car of Tomorrow chassis, which debuted in July 2010 at the Daytona International Speedway, his Nationwide teams might leave the series due to the costs of switching cars. When asked if he would move JR Motorsports to the Sprint Cup Series, Earnhardt said that because the Xfinity Series and Sprint Cup Series had almost the same expensive costs, he might move the team to the Sprint Cup Series as early as 2009 "if the right opportunity comes along with the right sponsorship and driver...".GM Media Online: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Press Conference However, JR Motorsports did not end up moving their team to the Sprint Cup and has remained in the Xfinity Series (and at the time, Truck Series), partially due to NASCAR's Cup Series limit of four cars per team owner. Because Rick Hendrick has an ownership stake in JR Motorsports and already fields the maximum of four cars with Hendrick Motorsports, JR Motorsports cannot field an entry in the Cup Series without Hendrick releasing his interest in the team. However, on April 11, 2021, Earnhardt Jr. hinted that JR Motorsports may move up to the Cup Series, given the proposed savings associated with the debut of the Next-Gen car in 2022. The challenges for the team are acquiring a charter, not continuing their professional relationship with Hendrick (as a JRM Cup team with Hendrick's involvement would max out the four-car limit of Hendrick Motorsports), and securing sponsorship for a Cup program.
Car No. 40 history On January 15, 2025, it was announced that JR Motorsports, in collaboration with Chris Stapleton, intended to compete in the 2025 Daytona 500 with the No. 40 car, driven by Justin Allgaier. No. 40 was selected for the car to reflect the labeling of Stapleton's signature Traveller Whiskey, the primary sponsor of the car, as "Blend No. 40" on its bottles. This was Allgaier's first Cup Series start since the 2024 Coca-Cola 600, where he filled in for Kyle Larson. Larson was originally scheduled to pilot the No. 5 car but missed the race due to his participation in the 2024 Indianapolis 500 on a day when weather issues delayed the Indianapolis 500 several hours and cut the Coca-Cola 600 short before Larson could get in the car.
Despite the most Daytona 500 entries in a decade since the introduction of the charter system, Allgaier would finish as the top open car in his duel and make the field for the race. Allgaier piloted the entry to a ninth-place finish after starting nineteenth.
On November 14, 2025, it was announced that JR Motorsports will enter the 2026 Daytona 500 with Allgaier and Traveller Whiskey in the No. 40 car for the second year in a row.
Car No. 40 results Year Driver No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Pts 2025 Justin Allgaier 40 Chevy DAY ATL COA PHO LVS HOM MAR DAR BRI TAL TEX KAN CLT NSH MCH MXC POC ATL CSC SON DOV IND IOW GLN RCH DAY DAR GTW BRI NHA KAN ROV LVS TAL MAR PHO 45th 30 2026 DAY ATL COA PHO LVS DAR MAR BRI KAN TAL TEX GLN CLT NSH MCH POC COR SON CHI ATL NWS IND IOW RCH NHA DAY DAR GTW BRI KAN LVS CLT PHO TAL MAR HOM
O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Car No. 1 history
Elliott Sadler (2016–2018) It was announced in late 2015 that Elliott Sadler would drive the new No. 1 OneMain Financial Chevy, replacing Chase Elliott as he moved up to take over the No. 24 replacing Jeff Gordon. Sadler started the season with a fourth-place finish in the season opener at Daytona. He would win three races in 2016 and ended up finishing second in the overall standings after a controversial restart with less than ten laps remaining at Homestead that cost Sadler and his teammate, Justin Allgaier, a shot to win the title. In 2017, Sadler didn't win a race but ended up finishing second in points behind only teammate William Byron.
Michael Annett (2019–2021)
On September 25, 2018, Noah Gragson was announced as the new driver of the No. 1 after Sadler announced his retirement earlier that year; However, on January 25, 2019, it was announced that Michael Annett would drive the No. 1 car with the points from the 5 car going over to the 1 car while Gragson would drive the No. 9 car. Annett scored his first career victory at Daytona International Speedway in the NASCAR Racing Experience 300. Annett returned to JRM in 2020 and qualified for the playoffs. He was eliminated after the first round. In July 2021, Annett missed the races at Atlanta and New Hampshire due to a stress fracture in his right femur. Austin Dillon served as his replacement in the No. 1 for Atlanta, while Josh Berry did so for New Hampshire. On October 6, 2021, Annett announced his retirement from full-time racing.
Sam Mayer (2022–2024)
Sam Mayer was announced the new full-time driver of the No. 1 on January 4, 2022. He started the season with a 30th-place finish at Daytona and scored four top-five finishes in the first 10 races. On May 3, crew chief Taylor Moyer was suspended for four races due to a tire and wheel loss at Dover. Andrew Overstreet was announced as the crew chief of the No. 1 for Darlington.
On August 9, 2022, it was announced that Mayer would return for the 2023 season. He started the 2023 season with a 27th place finish at Daytona. Mayer scored his first career win at Road America. He followed it up with his second win at Watkins Glen. During the playoffs, Mayer won at the Charlotte Roval and at Homestead to make the Championship 4. Mayer finished fifth at Phoenix and third in the points standings.
Mayer started the 2024 season with a 36th place DNF at Daytona. At Texas, he beat Ryan Sieg by 0.002 seconds to win the race and a Dash 4 Cash bonus of 100,000. He scored his second win of the season at Iowa. Mayer announced his departure to Haas Factory Team for the 2025 season on August 17, 2024. During the playoffs, he was disqualified at Talladega after his car failed the post-race ride height requirement. A week later, Mayer won at the Charlotte Roval.
Carson Kvapil (2025)
On October 1, 2024, it was announced that Carson Kvapil will run full-time in 2025 driving the No. 1 Chevrolet.
Carson Kvapil and Connor Zilisch (2026) On September 24, 2025, it was announced that Carson Kvapil and Connor Zilisch will share the No. 1 car for the 2026 season. It was also announced that Rodney Childers is going to be the crew chief. Zillisch won at Bristol and Watkins Glen. During the race at Kansas, Kvapil was involved in a major crash on lap 2. As the caution was being thrown for an incident involving Josh Bilicki and Kyle Sieg, Kvapil was clipped in the left rear by William Byron. The contact sent Kvapil spinning into the wall and into the path of Parker Retzlaff. The collision with Retzlaff allowed enough air to get underneath his car, flipping it onto its roof. Kvapil's car slid on its roof before flipping once and coming to a stop upside down. After the red flag was thrown, Kvapil was flipped back onto all four wheels by safety crews, Kvapil got out of the car under his own power, and was released from the infield care center shortly after. He scored his first career victory at Indianapolis. He scored his second victory at the next event at Iowa.
Return to Sam Mayer (2027) On September 22, 2026, JRM announced that Mayer will return to the No. 1 car in 2027.
Car No. 1 results