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 Sr. died while racing on the last lap of the Daytona 500. His son, Dale Earnhardt Jr. continues to return to the track. Since his dad’s death, Junior has won two Daytona 500s of his own and has now qualified for the first time as a NASCAR Cup Series team owner.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. blinked back tears as the moment socked him at Daytona International Speedway — a track bursting with triumph and tragedy for his family — that he was, with a country star and a NASCAR champ in tow,

Dale Earnhardt Jr. after Justin Allgaier put the JR Motorsports car in the Daytona 500: “Where else do you go and barely make the field and cry tears of joy?"

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 and driver Justin Allgaier punched their ticket to Sunday's race, but not before putting the boss through an emotional rollercoaster in a wild Duel qualifying race.