A few weeks back, when he emerged victorious in the extremely challenging Charlotte Roval, A.J. Allmendinger was in tears. The Kaulig Racing driver had bagged full points after almost two years and celebrated the win like it was his last. What he’d also done in the process was give his team its first win in 2023. Talking to the media that day, he’d expressed his desire to drive for Kaulig Racing until retirement.

Unfortunately for the 41-year-old, his words of loyalty might have come too soon. As we border the end of the 2023 season, the racing outfit owned by Chris Rice is yet to announce their 2024 driver for the No.16 car. More worryingly for some fans, it looks like Richard Childress’ grandson, Ty Dillon, might be the one to take the wheel from Allmendinger.

Veteran journalist reveals that Ty Dillon is the favorite to take over the No.16 Chevrolet

Allmendinger’s career has been a maze of different banners. Starting his Cup Series run with Red Bull Racing, he jumped many ships over a 16-year-long career as a driver before landing at the Kaulig ship in 2021. Notably, his move to Rice’s team came after a 2-year break from racing to work as an analyst for NBC. In the ongoing season, Allmendinger has proved his worth by being one of the best drivers on the grid despite not making the playoffs. With Miami behind us, he has taken his Celsius Chevrolet to 7 top-10s and 1 victory lane finish. His emotional words that came after the Roval win were, “It’s real. You don’t know when your last win is. I celebrate it like it’s my last win. I’m going to keep doing that.”

His great run through the season is exactly what sets fans aback about the revelation from motorsports journalist, Bob Pockrass. Answering a fan’s question on his “X” handle, Pockrass mentioned that, Ty Dillon was the favorite to take the No.16 seat at Kaulig Racing in 2024.

Ty Dillon currently drives the No.77 Camaro for the renovating Spire Motorsports. With the team announcing that Truck Series sensation Carson Hocevar will take over Dillon’s Camaro in 2024, the latter’s potential association with Kaulig is growing stronger. But the move happening at the cost of a well-performing Allmendinger doesn’t seem to have left fans very pleased.

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Fans don’t take well to the possibility of Richard Childress’ out-of-favor grandson replacing A.J. Allmendinger

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Kaulig Racing is one of the teams that are allied with the mammoth, that is, Richard Childress Racing. With his grandson being out of a seat at Spire, it is quite possible that the old man might be moving some pieces to get him one elsewhere. With the board already set at RCR, Kaulig Racing does appear to be a sweet choice to keep Dillon in the Cup Series. Worrying for Chris Rice, the 31-year-old driver has just 1 top-10 finish in the last two years.

With every passing day seeming dark for Allmendinger, fans were appalled by the idea of Dillon replacing him. Reacting to Pockrass’s news on Reddit, one fan wrote, “This is your daily reminder that Aj has more cup wins than Ty Dillon has top 5s.” Quite an extreme show of numbers. Another follower said, “Ty Dillon running in cup again in criminal. There is zero upside to having him in your organization.” Over his career in the Cup Series, Ty Dillon has driven for many banners. And he hasn’t created a noticeable impact anywhere. Reflecting on that, another response came, “Ty Dillon getting the 16 is absurd.”

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Hitting a final nail in the coffin, one fan came up with another interesting stat from the books. He said, “How about this stat: Kaulig Racing has 25 wins in 8 years of operations. AJ Allmendinger accounts for 17 of those all in the last 4-seasons including 2 at the Cup level. The man has meant everything to that organization to put them on the map and they know it and have said it.” 

With fans clearly expressing their displeasure at having someone very sub-par in comparison to Allmendinger drive the car, the ball is in Rice’s court. The driver had also said a few days back, “I’m still going to race Cup next year, no matter what.” With him being sure of staying with Kaulig, it is now up to the team’s president to decide in what capacity he will have Allmendinger in 2024.

Read More: “The Fact That He’s Richard Childress’ Grandson?”- NASCAR Insiders Prediction on Ty Dillon Cup Future Infuriates Racing Community