“Martin Truex running the 500 for Dale Earnhardt Jr. would feed families”: NASCAR world excited for latest JR Motorsports Daytona announcement

According to fan speculation, Martin Truex Jr. might race for JR Motorsports, the team co-owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kelley Earnhardt Miller. They teased NASCAR fans with a major announcement planned for January 15, 2025.

The duo will reveal details about JR Motorsports’ Daytona 500 plans, joined by two special guests. Joseph Srigley, an editor for Racing America, shared the news on the social media platform X, which has led to speculation among fans about Truex Jr. potentially participating in the Daytona 500 under the JR Motorsports banner.

"#NASCAR : @JRMotorsports co-owners #DaleJr and #EarnhardtKelley will be joined by two special guests for a 2025 DAYTONA Announcement on Wednesday, January 15, 2025 at 4:00 p.m. ET," he wrote.

NASCAR rejected Mike Wallace’s application to race in the 2025 Daytona 500, opening up the possibility that Truex Jr. might be for JRM. While there has been no official announcement yet, fans are looking forward to it, though some are skeptical.

"Truex running the 500 for Dale Earnhardt Jr. would feed families," one said.

"Can’t! Hendrick owns part of JRM, and that would be 5 cars for HMS," another wrote.

"I feel that is going to be Allgaier in the Brandt car," a third fan said.

Other comments gave an alternate angle:

"Truex has a deal with TRD"

"This has corruption written all over it," a fan tweeted.

"Don't tell anyone but the announcement is going to be Dale Earnhardt Jr. driving the number 8 Bud car one more time," another said.

Truex Jr. is a veteran in the sport, having raced for 23 years in NASCAR. He is the 2017 Cup Series champion and has expressed interest in racing at Daytona. During the 2016 Daytona 500, he finished second to Denny Hamlin by just 0.010 seconds, the closest in the race's history.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. on his and Martin Truex Jr.'s bachelor days

Since Martin Truex Jr.’s early racing days, he has been close friends with Dale Earnhardt Jr. In the early 2000s, he lived with him in North Carolina while starting his NASCAR career in the ARCA Series.

In 2019, while fondly thinking back to turning the home into a makeshift racing setup with computer-based simulators, Earnhardt Jr. said on his podcast "Dale Jr. Download":

“I bought four identical computers, and a year goes down the road; all that crap is obsolete. Four brand-new computers come back in the house; we're in there upgrading, updating, installing; everybody's got a wheel. I mean, we had it set up.

We had a lot of fun; we raced all night long, slept all day, ate junk, drank beer, and he drank Captain; that's his drink; he's a Captain Morgan guy.”

Truex Jr.'s time with Earnhardt Jr. paid off professionally as well—he won back-to-back NASCAR Xfinity Series championships in 2004 and 2005 while racing for Chance 2 Motorsports, a team co-owned by his friend.