"Our team was like, 'Get that behind closed doors!'": Dale Earnhardt Jr. reveals how JRM's Daytona 500 announcement almost got spoiled

Amid his team's foray into the Cup Series, Dale Earnhardt Jr. revealed an anxious moment around JRM's Daytona 500 announcement. Earnhardt, who co-owns JR Motorsports, his Xfinity Series organization, with his sister Kelley Earnhardt Miller, recently announced that he'd be taking his organization to NASCAR's top level for the season-opener in Florida.

A big factor in making this happen is their partnership with Chris Stapleton, whose Traveller Whiskey will be front and center on the Justin Allgaier-driven #40 Next Gen Camaro. But before it was officially announced, there was a slip-up by a website that could've spoiled the plans for JRM.

As Dale Earnhardt Jr. described (via Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Dirty Mo Media on YouTube):

"There was a moment where a website went live with the sweep stakes or some component of the marketing plan with the car and Justin Allgaier and Chris Stapleton. And I know that our team was like, 'Oh no! Get that behind closed doors.' And I sit there and looked on the internet all day long waiting for the one person to find it and screenshotted it and said, 'Hey, what's this? Hey y'all?' And it didn't happen." [14:30]

Offering her thoughts on this subject, Kelley Earnhardt felt that the performance part was not as big as the marketing aspect for JRM. She said that it is so because this is the first time Stapleton has had a NASCAR sponsorship opportunity.

Because the sponsorship team wanted to see 'good results', Kelley revealed that when the opportunity to run at the Daytona 500, Stapleton's side was all about impressions, the marketing plan, and the PR, prompting JRM to approach it in a 'detailed' manner.

Shedding light on some of the intangible aspects of the partnership from a material perspective, Kelley said:

"They have to ship that material and put everything together, websites, all the POS- point of sales materials that will go into the store, and then hope that store managers and people like that leave it in the backroom until we announce the whole program. It's like, 'Oh Gosh, please let this work. We hope that this works,' Kelley Earnhardt said [13:00 onwards].

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. weighs in on what his father would've thought of JRM's Cup opportunity

Speaking on his expectations from his first Cup start as an owner, Dale Earnhardt Jr. said that he feels a 'bit of an obligation' to have a good result. He cited the 'pressure' to perform well owing to JRM's connection with its fanbase.

Dale Jr. further touched on what his father, Dale Earnhardt Sr., would've had to say for his children making the big leap to the Cup level.

"I'm sure he would have told us how we should have done it differently, but, you know, he was, he was also always very supportive. But, you know, so I think he would be excited about this."

That said, it'll be interesting to see how Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kelley Earnhardt's first foray into the Cup side fares for JRM. Whether or not they'll return for more races in 2025 and beyond, only time will tell.