Standing next to his team’s car before Thursday’s qualifying race at Daytona International Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. looked at his sister, Kelley Earnhardt Miller, in amazement. “God dang,” he said to her before the invocation,

Dale Earnhardt Jr was emotional after Justin Allgaier raced the JR Motorsports car into the Daytona 500 for the first time on February 13. The NASCAR legend tells why.

JR Motorsports is a championship-winning Xfinity Series team owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and sister Kelly. In a first Cup effort, they made the 500.