Image Reference: TaurusEmerald via Wikipedia, CC BY 4.0 International
Since Kaulig Racing struggled to replace AJ Allmendinger full-time in the No.16 Chevy Camaro this Cup Series season, it’s been no surprise that they went back to the multi-driver format like it was two years ago and then they would wanna give it up that early by selling one of their charters or even both with Daniel Hemric being the only full-time driver in the No.31 car.
Yes, the results aren’t that bad sometimes when Daniel scored back-to-back Top 10s in recent weeks at Talladega and Dover other than AJ scoring well whenever he can at the Daytona 500 (6th), Circuit of the Americas (6th again) and Dover I (13th) because he wants to go back to enjoy racing on Saturdays which is the Xfinity Series. However, it seems they don’t have a long-term replacement driver to promote from here with Justin Haley now at Rick Ware Racing in the No.51 Ford Mustang.
I would’ve loved to see Shane Van Gisbergen take up AJ’s spot in the No.16 cup car next year as he would be the perfect replacement from someone who shares the same road course ringer pedigree as AJ. But then he’s tied by Trackhouse who gave him his first steps into the world of NASCAR from Supercars and Justin Marks wouldn’t wanna let SVG go that easily, even though Trackhouse wishes to expand from 2 Cup cars in 2025. Instead, we could see them race four Cup cars where the 3rd car would go to Zane Smith after Michael McDowell just announced his departure at Front Row Motorsports to take up his current spot in the No.71 Chevy for Spire Motorsports while the fourth car will be reserved for the seasoned Supercars champ.
Where we could see Trackhouse buy these charters from? the No.16 Kaulig one looks most certain now and the other would come from Stewart-Haas Racing who is still open to selling 1-2 charters at season’s end. I guess the uncertainty on how the sport’s uncertain future on the way they see the charter system turns out to be a great time right now to use this advantage.
And with Kaulig potentially downsizing to now one Cup car, will see them stay on at the top level for a bit longer? Probably not since their ambitions to run Top 10-15 for the most part seems to be fading away where their best bet is to sell the other charter to Richard Childress Racing also at season’s end to create a 3rd full-time car for Austin Hill next year and then just focus on getting the best out of their Xfinity program just like BJ McLeod’s own motorsports team. Sometimes you would need top quality driving talent alongside a decent amount of $$$ to meet your ambitions by winning races in the Cup Series but a lack of good long-term replacements seems like Kaulig Racing would wanna leave this level sooner rather than later.
