CONCORD, N.C. — The ambitions of Kaulig Racing have always been clear, frequently touted on social media and in interviews in which the NASCAR team likes to use the phrase “trophy hunting” to signify that pursuing race wins is its chief objective.
That mantra is often the catalyst in the decisions made by team owner Matt Kaulig and president Chris Rice. It’s a large reason why they built the foundation of their Xfinity Series team around talented drivers Justin Haley and AJ Allmendinger, who routinely delivered by amassing a multitude of wins that propelled Kaulig Racing into a championship-caliber organization in NASCAR’s second-tier series.
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And it’s why when the team announced in 2021 that it was expanding to the Cup Series, Haley and Allmendinger were again the linchpins; a smart decision that seemingly put Kaulig on a path to soon being a consistently competitive team — similar to how 23XI Racing and Trackhouse Racing, two other recently created teams, have found relatively quick success. Haley was the promising young talent with a bright future, and Allmendinger was the veteran whose ability on road courses positioned him to earn a playoff berth on a yearly basis.
This blueprint was on display Sunday, paying dividends with Allmendinger delivering Kaulig the victory in the Cup race at the Charlotte Roval. It marks Kaulig’s second-ever Cup win, both courtesy of stirring drives by Allmendinger, the first coming on the Indianapolis road course in 2021.
We're here for the @AJDinger emotion. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/et6jLQYJdR
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 9, 2023
“(Allmendinger) is a trophy hunter, and that’s why we hired him when nobody else believed in him five years ago,” Kaulig team president Chris Rice said. “We believed in him then, and he’s made us better these last couple of years, and to go Cup racing and do what we need to do. It’s very emotional for him, myself, because we will play golf and we had a lot of conversations about what the next five to 10 years look like.”
Amid the euphoria of winning, however, cracks have appeared underneath the surface that call into question the once-promising future for Kaulig and give the impression that the Roval triumph may be its last Cup win for some time.
Haley is departing at the end of the season for the security of a multi-year contract at Rick Ware Racing. Both Haley and Kaulig wanted to continue their union, but a lack of sufficient sponsorship scuttled those plans, leaving Haley with little recourse but to head elsewhere.
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And for reasons that also center around sponsorship rather than performance, Allmendinger likely won’t be back full-time in a Kaulig Cup car next year, either. Although Kaulig hasn’t said anything official, all indications point toward Allmendinger moving down to Kaulig’s Xfinity program, where he certainly will win races and contend for the title. Except that is Xfinity and not Cup, and the latter is where his veteran presence and ability are more needed so Allmendinger and the team can enjoy more afternoons like Sunday.
The issue from the bigger perspective is not just that Haley and Allmendinger no longer will be on Kaulig’s Cup roster but also the void their absences create and how Kaulig is attempting to fill the hole.
Last month, Kaulig announced that Daniel Hemric will wheel one of its two Cup entries on a full-time basis next year. There is a case to be made for why Kaulig felt Hemric should be promoted. He did win the 2021 Xfinity championship, and two years prior, in his lone full Cup season, he earned Rookie of the Year honors. Hemric long has been viewed as someone who, in the right situation, could produce solid results at the Cup level.
What doesn’t inspire confidence in Hemric is that despite being in very good equipment while in the Xfinity series, he has just a single victory, in that 2021 title race in Phoenix, to his name. That’s concerning considering the situation he’s stepping into and the competitive disadvantages Kaulig is facing.
Maybe Hemric, 32, is a late bloomer — he wouldn’t be the first driver to be. But it’s hard to envision someone who couldn’t win consistently in the top-flight Joe Gibbs Racing Xfinity car he drove in 2021 suddenly carrying Kaulig to Cup glory.
Who drives the No. 16 car that Allmendinger currently occupies is not yet known. Several names have been mentioned as candidates, none of whom present an upgrade over Allmendinger. The team said Sunday its 2024 plans are solidified but have not been publicly announced. Rice indicated that the decision was related to sponsorship rather than performance-based.
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“It’s not a decision that’s easy to make sometimes, it just all goes to partners and how you can get partners,” Rice said. “And that’s what’s so bad about the sport right now. We’ve had performance with the 31 car, we’ve had performance with the 16, and we’ve not had performance no matter who is the driver because those guys don’t forget how to drive, most of the time it’s us trying to figure out what we need.”
Sponsorship issues are a real concern in NASCAR, of course, but the best teams emphasize winning even if the costs don’t align. Last month, Trackhouse announced it had signed Zane Smith to a multi-year Cup contract three days after also signing Shane van Gisbergen to a developmental deal with the hope of him moving to Cup within the next few years. At a minimum, the current two-car Trackhouse team will soon need to add a third car to accommodate its new additions. That will be an expensive endeavor with the charter market currently set at $40 million.
And last summer, 23XI went out and signed Tyler Reddick to a contract, with team co-owner Denny Hamlin emphatically stating at the time the opportunity to sign Reddick trumped having the appropriate funding in place before inking him to a contract. His talent made signing him something 23XI couldn’t pass up. Reddick advanced Sunday to the Round of 8.
Unless Kaulig has something up its sleeve that surprises everyone — or feels so compelled by Allmendinger’s Roval win it alters its plans — whatever driver lineup the team rolls out next year will, in all likelihood, give little hope that Kaulig is attempting to build something bigger over the long term, as seemed to be the case at the beginning of the season.
The reality facing Kaulig now: There is a high probability that Hemric and Mystery Driver X will fall short of what Allmendinger and Haley accomplished this season. In addition to winning on Sunday, Allmendinger was in playoff contention for a wild-card spot via points until mid-August before tailing off. Meanwhile, Haley quietly has turned in a second consecutive respectable season. And each has done so despite Kaulig struggling through early-season performance deficiencies. Given better cars, Allmendinger may have won one of the five road-course races during the regular season to snag a playoff berth, and Haley likely would be ranked higher than 25th in points.
Instead, next year’s roster gives all the appearances of a team that’s going to struggle mightily, which would only set Kaulig back in a Cup garage that is becoming increasingly competitive.
If Kaulig was truly all about winning, then Allmendinger seems to represent the only viable option to drive the No. 16 car. Based on the criteria that should matter most, talent and fit, he should remain where he’s at.
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Yet this is a move that is about dollars and cents, not results. In lieu of keeping Allmendinger in Cup, re-signing Haley or going out to find big-time replacements for both, Kaulig appears set to go trophy hunting with a pair of peashooters. That is not a hunting expedition that’s likely to end well.
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(Photo of AJ Allmendinger and Matt Kaulig: Keenan Hairston / Getty Images)
