Kaulig President Triggers RCR Merger Speculations With a 5-Word Declaration on Cup Series Future

The Silly Season took another spin when Michael McDowell announced his surprise exit from Front Row Motorsports. Fans were gobsmacked as McDowell had brought FRM its two Cup wins. However, the air of surprise was cleared as this was part of a complex network, which has now reached Richard Childress.

Besides Stewart-Haas Racing’s jittery ground, now Kaulig Racing is another team that is at risk. It is not exactly a successful Chevy team, as both its cars sit 30th and 32nd in Cup Series Owner’s Points. Given that it’s a small team, acquiring charters may not be on the cards. So where should they go unless they merge with a bigger team?

Potential tie for Chris Rice and Richard Childress

A short while ago, rumors were afoot that Kaulig Racing would merge with Trackhouse Racing. While the former is struggling, the latter is in dire need of more spots. Currently, Trackhouse has five drivers under contract but only two Cup seats. Hence, a merger would benefit both parties, albeit throwing Daniel Suarez’s future in the dark.

But recently, Kaulig Racing’s president, Chris Rice, claimed that these rumors were ill-founded. In an interview with Sirius XM NASCAR Radio, Rice debunked the imagined merger, saying, “We’re not merging; we’re not doing anything like that. We are very close to Trackhouse, and we will be close to Trackhouse for a while.” But then he dropped an interesting point, hinting at a merger with another team.

Rice revealed, “We’re also close to RCR, you know, if you wanna look at it that way.” Kaulig Racing has a technical alliance with Richard Childress. RCR lends engines and other equipment to the smaller team. Also, Kaulig lacks a facility to call its own and hence is housed on Richard Childress Racing’s campus. So if the team’s fortunes seem bleak, a crucial step would be to merge with a legendary race-winning team.

Then Chris Rice strongly denied any indications that his team was crumbling. He dropped a five-word declaration to confirm this, “Matt Kaulig is not going away,” and backed up his claim with information on the team’s goals. “I mean, we don’t have a charter agreement done right there. So I think we need to focus on that, and then focus on where Kaulig Racing is going. We’re gonna get these stretches of races with AJ and SVG.”

Yet even if Rice’s conviction takes a turn south, Richard Childress is there to ensure Kaulig Racing remains relevant to the sport. The two entities already struck up a steady bond early this year.

Richard Childress’ grandson is running the track for Kaulig

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Ty Dillon, one of the two grandsons of Richard Childress, came back for another shot in the Cup Series this year. And Kaulig Racing was there to help him. A.J. Allmendinger brought the team its only two wins with the No. 16 car, one at Indy in 2021 and another at a Charlotte Cup race in 2023. However, Kaulig allowed Allmendinger to slip down to the Xfinity Series just to make room for Childress’ grandson in the same car.

Chris Rice hinted at his enthusiasm for the growing alliance with Richard Childress. “We’re excited to have Ty Dillon compete for Kaulig Racing this season in the NASCAR Cup Series. With our continued success in the sport and support from Richard Childress Racing, it made perfect sense to lean on a veteran driver to help pilot the No.16 NCS.”

Hence this adds fuel to RCR rivalling Trackhouse for initiating a merger with Kaulig Racing.