JR Motorsports long-awaited NASCAR Cup Series debut is in jeopardy following Daytona 500 qualifying on Wednesday night.

Piloting the No. 40 Chevrolet, defending NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Justin Allgaier ran the 33rd-fastest time, which wasnt fast enough to dethrone the top two non-charter entries of Martin Truex Jr. and Jimmie Johnson.

With Allgaier unable to lock himself into the field on Wednesday, his fate lies with Thursdays 60-lap Daytona Duel where hell compete against other non-locked in drivers in Chandler Smith, J.J. Yeley and Helio Castroneves.

Only one driver from each Duel makes the Daytona 500.

Prior to his qualifying run, Allgaier stressed the importance of team work in order to have a successful qualifying effort at the 2.5-mile oval.

The experience that I have, the experience that Greg (Ives, crew chief) has, my spotter Joey, what he was able to do on top of the spotter stand, those are things I think are very important, Allgaier said.

As Chevrolet, we got a lot of cars in the field that are Chevys. You cannot do this alone. There is no way to superspeedway race by yourself.

Were hopeful that all plays into our favor, but we also know that this is arguably one of the toughest open fields of the last couple years. We picked a heck of a year to try to make this attempt.

When asked whether he felt any pressure in making the field, Allgaier kept it simple.

None, zero, Allgaier laughed.

Now as Allgaier and JRM face a tall task to make the Daytona 500 field on Thursday, the 38-year-olds outlook, regardless of outcome, will remain unchanged as he understands the grind its taken to reach this point.

I think that this exercise of getting here has been significant of what it takes, the time, the energy, the financial side of it, Allgaier explained. Whether this is the first and only or first of many, I couldnt tell you. Five years ago, I would have said that this day would never come. It finally came. Its everything that I thought it would be and then some.

I think that everybody at our shop feels the same way. So Im excited to see the speed we can have tonight, but Im excited to see how the rest of the weekend goes. Im very hopeful.

Anything can and will happen in the Duels. Weve seen it all time and time again. You can have the fastest race car here and it winds up in a box of parts or you can sneak your way in on the last lap. I think Jimmie got in on one of the last laps of the Duels. You never know what to expect.

Im proud of the effort just to get to this point. Were going to do everything we can to make it into the 500.