In just their second ever NASCAR Cup Series start, JR Motorsports found themselves leading the Daytona 500 with Justin Allgaier behind the wheel of the No. 40 Chevrolet, after he had started all the way back in 40th of 41 cars.
Then a block went wrong, and Allgaier was collected in a 20-car pileup, ending his race just one year after securing an impressive ninth place result in the debut of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s team at the Cup level.
To nobody's surprise, JR Motorsports plans for the 2026 Cup Series season only include the Daytona 500, and the No. 40 Chevrolet is not on the entry list for this weekend's race at EchoPark Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway).
JR Motorsports not competing in Atlanta NASCAR Cup race
The No. 40 car is one of seven non-chartered (open) cars from the Daytona 500 entry list not on the entry list for this Sunday's 260-lap race around the four-turn, 1.54-mile (2.478-kilometer) Hampton, Georgia oval.
Garage 66, another part-time single-car team that qualified for the Daytona 500, had initially planned on competing at Atlanta, but they withdrew Casey Mears and the No. 66 Ford from the entry list. Single-car teams NY Racing Team and Live Fast Motorsports are both set to return after the former missed the Daytona 500 and the latter got in for the first time since 2023.
Beard Motorsports, the other single-car team to enter a car at Daytona, will not compete at Atlanta. Anthony Alfredo had initially qualified for the "Great American Race" over the Live Fast Motorsports entry of McLeod, but his America 250 Florida Duel qualifying race result was disallowed and he was removed from the 41-car field.
None of the four full-time teams that added Daytona 500 entries – Front Row Motorsports, 23XI Racing, Legacy Motor Club, and RFK Racing – are adding an entry this week. Front Row Motorsports and RFK Racing both missed the Daytona 500 with their open cars.
With just two open cars on this weekend's entry list, both J.J. Yeley's No. 44 Chevrolet and McLeod's No. 78 Chevrolet are locked into the race.
Tune in to Fox at 3:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, February 22 for the live broadcast of the Autotrader 400 from EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta). If you have not already done so, begin a free trial of FuboTV and catch all of the action!