Where Kaulig Racing stands as focus shifts to Ram Trucks in 2026

WELCOME, N.C. — The checkered flag waving at Phoenix Raceway on the 2025 season marks the beginning of Kaulig Racing shifting its focus in NASCAR.

The team that first emerged in 2016 as one of NASCAR’s first “new-wave teams” of the late-2010s and early-2020s has seemingly lost its way. However, a new deal with Stellantis and Ram Trucks could put them back on track — in an entirely different series than what they’ve ever run before.

Kaulig Racing: The Early Years

Matt Kaulig took his business Leaf Filter Gutter Protection to NASCAR in 2016 as the primary sponsor of his own No. 11 car in the Xfinity Series.

In the maiden season of the No. 11 car, driver Blake Koch made it iconic. They made the inaugural Xfinity/O’Reilly Auto Parts Series playoffs and survived elimination to nearly make the Championship 4, notably finishing eighth after starting fourth in the last race before the Championship 4.

Koch finished seventh in the 2016 playoffs. Although he backed that up with an 11th-place points finish in 2017, the team went with Ryan Truex for 2018.

Again, the team made the playoffs but 2019 saw different drivers take over.

Formative years

In 2019, Kaulig Racing picked up three key drivers:

Justin Haley took the No. 11 car to new heights with four top-finishes, 20 top-10 finishes and an average finish of 12.3. The next year, he made the Championship 4 and won three races.

Ross Chastain and A.J. Allmendinger claimed Kaulig’s first two wins in 2019 — at Daytona in July and at the Charlotte Roval in September. The following year, Allmendinger won twice in 11 starts while Chastain amassed an average finish of 7.8 and led 553 laps in a stellar season before going Cup racing.

Allmendinger, who seemed to be done with full-time racing by 2020, went full-time in 2021.

Now flanked by two teammates. Haley returned and won again while Allmendinger won five times and Jeb Burton won at Talladega to put three Kaulig cars in the playoffs for the first time ever.

Burton’s win at Talladega ultimately brought down the curtain on an epic run for Kaulig on the superspeedways. Of the 11 races run at Talladega and Daytona from 2019 to 2021, Kaulig won six of them with three victories at each track.

Later in 2021, Allmendinger earned Kaulig’s first NASCAR Cup Series win in August at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. That signaled a change to come for the team in 2022 with the NextGen car set to debut in the series and Haley ready to go Cup racing. The team purchased two charters for him and a variety of drivers, including Allmendinger.

Allmendinger continued leading the way in 2022, earning five wins, 17 top-five finishes, 28 top-10 finishes and five poles in a 33-race Xfinity season that saw him earn an average finish of 6.6 and dominate the points lead. In 18 Cup races, he earned three top-fives, eight top-10s and an average finish of 15.4.

In his first Cup season, Haley also had three top-fives, four top-10s and an average finish of 18.4 that reflected a consistent Cup debut for him and Kaulig to go along with Allmendinger’s great season.

Still, the cracks had started to show at Kaulig.

The decline of Kaulig Racing

Allmendinger had a great 2022 season on paper but in practice, his overall speed paled in comparison to competitors Ty Gibbs and Noah Gragson. It showed in the Round of 8 as Allmendinger struggled after a loose wheel at Las Vegas, which led to Kaulig missing the Championship 4 for the first time since 2019.

Teammate Daniel Hemric, who came to the team as the defending champion, could hardly defend his title. Meanwhile, Landon Cassill ran well enough but missed the playoffs after having issues in the regular-season finale at Bristol.

The next season, Cassill didn’t return due to issues with sponsor Voyager, leaving his No. 10 car in the hands of multiple drivers in 2023. Hemric returned but Allmendinger moved to Cup, ushering in young gun Chandler Smith.

Haley returned to the Cup team in 2023 but announced in July he would move to Rick Ware Racing in 2024.

The move seemed like a non-sequitur to Smith getting his first Xfinity win with Kaulig in the spring at Richmond and Allmendinger getting his first Cup Series win in two years in October at the Charlotte Roval — but that Roval race broke open a dam.

The Athletic‘s Jordan Bianchi asked pointed questions team executives about Smith and Allmendinger’s plans for 2024. After deflecting the questions, rumors swirled about Smith leaving the team and Allmendinger going back to Xfinity to fill in the gap.

All of that ultimately happened.

A variety of drivers replaced Allmendinger and Hemric replaced Haley in Cup, while Josh Williams filled Hemric ride and Shane van Gisbergen — with help from Trackhouse Racing — filled the funding hole for the third entry in Xfinity.

The season started rough. The Cup team struggled to run in the top-20 while the Xfinity team struggled some weeks for top-15 speed — a far cry from the well-oiled machine they were oiling just a few years before.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom.

SVG won three times and made the playoffs, along with Allmendinger who earned redemption from a loose wheel at Las Vegas to win and make the Championship 4.

Allmendinger was rewarded with a Cup ride in 2025 but his performance slipped to an average finish of 21.4 and a 26th-place points finish.

Xfinity wasn’t much better. All of their drivers missed the playoffs, including Williams who was fired before the playoffs began. The team seemingly declined as rookie Christian Eckes had similar stats as Allmendinger in 2024 (six top-fives vs. seven, 15 top-10s vs. 18) but had three more DNFs that sunk his average finish by three positions and contributed to him missing the playoffs.

Kaulig Racing ultimately had their first season where they didn’t make the playoffs. By the end of it, it was a time to ‘ram’ together a retooling.

What’s next for Kaulig Racing?

Kaulig Racing announced in late-August they would be the first team to sign with Ram Trucks for their return to NASCAR in 2026. So far, they have signed Brenden “Butterbean” Queen, Daniel Dye and old driver Justin Haley and have two trucks left to fill.

The two trucks are rumored to have lineups of:

• Short track drivers participating “Gong Show”-style competition
• All-star drivers
  • Rumored names: Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne

With Stellantis pouring so much money and effort into Kaulig Racing, the team made a big decision. They decided to pause their Xfinity program.

“Matt and I made this decision flying home one day. It’s not like we want to. We really don’t have a choice. We gotta make sure that the RAM trucks are where they need to be. Those guys have taken a huge chance on us, and we wanna show them where we’re behind them to build this thing pretty big,” Team CEO Chris Rice said.

Maybe it’s time for a big shakeup?

Kaulig Racing has always prided themselves on “Trophy Hunting” — but the ammunition needed to attract effective hunters who can bag the brass comes at a pretty high price, which Stellantis seems ready to pay. The manufacturer has indicated interest in Cup racing, meaning Kaulig could soon become the top team at an OEM.

As of now, only Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing and Team Penske can bestow that title — and they’ve won 25 of the last 31 Cup championships.

Time will tell where Kaulig will go beyond 2025 but the Stellantis backing is a great first step to track down some trophies in 2026 and beyond.

“The Xfinity Series is where we were born and raised,” Rice said. “We have made a choice that we need to focus really hard on our Truck Series program and our Cup Series program to push it forward. So, you guys will see us back in the Xfinity Series in the coming years, but we gotta pause it for a little bit.”