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,

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — 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, back in the Daytona 500.

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