AJ Allmendinger returns to full-time cup  duty with Kaulig Racing in 2023


AJ Allmendinger returns to full-time cup  duty with Kaulig Racing in 2023

AJ Allmendinger

AJ Allmendinger retired from NASCAR back in 2018. But his long-time friends Chris Rice and Matt Kaulig were able to talk the veteran out of it. The duo signed Allmendinger as a part-time driver for Koulig Racing in the Xfinity series. He drove in 5 races for the team that year.

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The veteran found a new purpose while racing with Kaulig Racing in 2019, though he had a rough start. In the very next year, AJ ran 11 Xfinity races for the team. Koulig Racing gradually established itself as a top-tier team. The Koulig team entered the cup scene in 2021 with AJ running a part-time schedule in the cup and racing full-time in the Xfinity series.

In the 2022 season the team lined up two cars. The No:31 Chevy for Justin Haley, who is their full-time driver. AJ Allmendinger drove the No:16 ‘Trophy hunting’ chevy. He so far has started 13 cup races this season. The veteran is on fire in the Xfinity series with 4 wins and 22 Top 10 finishes. He is one of the championship favorites this season.

Fresh from his maiden superspeedway win last Sunday at Talladega, which booked his spot-on Xfinity Series Round of 8, AJ Allmendinger signed a deal with Kaulig to drive the No:16 car full-time next year. KBM Truck driver Chandler Smith will take over AJ’s No:16 Xfinity team in 2023. The 40-years old will drive along with Haley next season.

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Find out what AJ Allmendinger and Chris Rice had to say about the formers cup return

AJ Allmendinger
AJ Allmendinger

AJ Allmendinger pointed out that competing full-time is a mentally tough battle. He said, “When I first went to Kaulig Racing to compete part-time in 2019 and 2020, I remember how I felt on the weekends that I wasn’t racing and how much I missed it. Competing full-time is a mentally tough battle at times. No matter how much work you put in as a driver, there’s a chance you will not achieve success,”.

AJ Allmendinger pointed out Kaulig Racing helped him to rediscover the competitive drive to be the best, something he lost in the past. He added that he now feels more competitive than ever.  He believes there is a lot of success left to earn with the team.

For a while, I think I lost that competitive drive to be the best. Kaulig Racing helped me find that again. I now feel more competitive than ever and believe there is more success to be earned as a team,” AJ Allmendinger added.

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Chris Rice, who is the general manager of Kaulig Racing, said that AJ Allmendinger understood what Koulig was trying to build when they first came to race part-time in the Xfinity series. He added that AJ brought success to the Xfinity team and now it’s the next step for him to bring in the same success to the still young cup team.

“I first called AJ in 2019 to ask if he would run a couple of Xfinity Series races for us. He agreed to do five, and he was disqualified in the first two races. Although it was two tough results, AJ saw what we were trying to build here at Kaulig Racing, and better yet, he believed in what we were building. After the success, we’ve had together since then, we think the next step is for him to help us do the same with our young, Cup Series team,” Chris Rice said.

Will Allmendinger win a cup race Next-season?

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