Kelley Earnhardt’s recent guest reveals reason behind Wood Brother’s longevity in NASCAR

Kelley Earnhardt recently invited Wood Brothers Racing President Jon Wood for a virtual interview on Dirty Mo Media. The 42-year-old Virginia native is among the third-generation group of owners of the race team founded in 1950 by family patriarch Glen Wood.

Wood Brothers Racing is famous for its iconic No. 21 car, previously driven by legendary drivers like Junior Johnson, Cale Yarborough, David Pearson, Neil Bonnett, Buddy Baker, Kyle Petty, Dale Jarrett, Michael Waltrip, and Bill Elliott. Most recently, the team picked its 100th Cup Series win through the hands of Harrison Burton.

Wood Brothers Racing also holds the Guinness World Record for the longest tenure as an active NASCAR team. Notably, they have been working just with Ford since their inception. On that note, Kelley asked Jon about the secret that has kept the team up and alive for almost as long as NASCAR exists. Jon replied,

“The relationships that have been formed and are ongoing that my dad and my uncle have with everybody at Ford, with everybody in the industry and NASCAR and Penske... It's like they're best friends with all these people.”

However, Jon is unlike his father Eddie, and uncle Len. He has trouble maintaining these old friendships because of the generational gap between with them.

“It's not that I don't like the elbow-rubbing or whatever you wanna call it, I'm just not good at it. It's just not my personality. That's tough because I see the way that we've made it this long and the successes that we've had and every bit of that is because of being good people and the ongoing relationships that they have with all these key people,” Jon explained.

Kelley Earnhardt is the co-owner and Chief Executive Officer of JR Motorsports, a NASCAR Xfinity Series team. Born in August 1972, she too, is a product of a much later generation and thus, could relate to whatever Jon Wood was telling her.

Kelley Earnhardt spills qualities that helped Justin Allgaier bag the 2024 titular win

After 14 full years of competing, Justin Allgaier finally got his hands on the Championship trophy this year at Phoenix. He stood strong in the face of adversity, battled issues with his car, and suffered a restart violation and a speeding penalty. He ultimately managed to survive the last overtime restart.

Allgaier ran 471 races before winning his career-first championship. Per Kelley Earnhardt, being a good Christian and a man of faith are reasons for Allgaier’s success.

"Being a Christian and man of faith is @J_Allgaier best quality and this Championship is testament to that. He and I had the opportunity to participate in the book below - get your copy! "

Kelley Earnhardt and Justin Allgaier featured in “SUNDAYS AT THE TRACK,” a book written by award-winning journalist and best-selling author Lee Weeks. The book was released on December 3 and is available in several bookstores across the country.

Allgaier is currently under a multi-year contract that will keep him behind the wheel of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevy through 2026. With BRANDT Professional Agriculture as his primary sponsor for 20 regular season events, Allgaier will attempt to defend his title starting from the United Rentals 300 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, February 15 (5 pm ET onwards, CW, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).