At the track that bursts with triumph and tragedy for his family, Earnhardt celebrated Thursday night when JR Motorsports and driver Justin Allgaier qualified for Sunday’s season-opening race.

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,

Where else do you go and barely make the field and cry tears of joy?” The answer is Daytona, the place that means so much to the Earnhardt family.