Shane van Gisbergen debuted in NASCAR through Trackhouse Racing’s “Project 91, ” which aims to get the world’s best drivers into NASCAR. Thanks to the alliance between Trackhouse and Kaulig, SVG currently runs a full Xfinity season with Kaulig racing along with a part-time ride in the Cup, piloting the #16 car.

Strangely, the #16 has seen more than one crew chief change since SVG’s Cup run. Earlier this year, Travis Mack, who served as Daniel Suarez’s crew chief, replaced Matt Swiderski, who led the #16 team to two victories over the last three seasons. And now even Mack has been sacked for a third crew chief as SVG gears up for a full Cup season next year.

New crew chief for Shane van Gisbergen

The crew chief-driver bond is perhaps one of the most crucial factors behind any team’s success. The pair of Jeff Gordon and Ray Everham come to mind, who won 47 Cup Series races and 3 championships together. Recently, Kaulig Racing replaced the crew chief for the #16 car for the third time. Perhaps this is the reason behind the struggles of the #16 team, which has been piloted by Shane van Gisbergen and a few other drivers in the Cup Series this year.

In the statement, Kaulig Racing said, “Travis Mack will no longer serve as crew chief for the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet, effective immediately,” the statement explained. “We appreciate the commitment Travis made to the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season and wish him well in the future. Darian Grubb will serve as the No. 16 crew chief this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with driver Shane van Gisbergen. More announcements regarding the position will be made in the near future.”

Mack joined Kaulig Racing after three years at Trackhouse Racing. However, Mack did not get the success he’d hoped for at Kaulig. In the 32 races so far in the season, the #16 team only managed one top-5 finish and four top-10s. Darian Grubb is set to replace Mack when SVG runs the Las Vegas race. Perhaps this move would bring some success for the #16 team, as Darian-SVG has a history of winning. SVG’s debut Cup Series win in the 2023 Chicago street race came with Darian. The interim crew chief is also a 24-time Cup Series race winner and 2011 Cup champion with Tony Stewart.

This is part of several changes Kaulig has brought in the recent past. NASCAR Analyst Eric Estepp, in a recent video, dwelled on this. He said, “Remember a few weeks ago Ty Norris suddenly up in left track house signed with Kaulig. He’s now their Chief business officer. I find it interesting that one of the first orders of business after the Ty Norris signing is to let go a former Track House crew chief. I don’t know clean start maybe. Across the board, I think this has been a disappointing season for Kaulig Racing.”

But that is the story in the Cup. Shane van Gisberegen, on the other hand, has had a splendid season in his Xfinity Series debut with the team.

• After bagging 3 wins, the Kiwi booked a playoff berth in the round of 12, before his playoff journey ended at the Charlotte Motor Speedway race. However, here too he faced crew chief changes.
• Bruce Schlicker, the crew chief who aided SVG’s three wins, suddenly parted ways with the #97 team, leaving them scrambling. However, that is history, as SVG is gearing up for a full Cup season next year with Trackhouse leaving the struggling Kaulig team.

While the 2024 Cup season hasn’t been ideal for Kaulig Racing, with these recent changes, maybe the team is looking to bounce back.

Can Kaulig Racing make a comeback in 2025?

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Kaulig Racing fields two Cup teams. The #16 has multiple part-time drivers, but the second #31 has a full-time driver, Daniel Hemric. The 2021 Xfinity Series champion is currently 33rd in the driver’s ranking, and in the 33 races so far, he has only managed four top-10 finishes. This has led to the team sacking Hemric and putting Ty Dillon in his place for the 2025 season.

This has raised many questions as Dillon, who returned to the Truck Series this year, had a disappointing season as well. In the 18 races, he only managed 2 top 10s. Post which he lost his Rackley WAR ride in the Truck Series. However, Dillon’s teammate next year would be AJ Allmendinger, who will return for a full-time ride. The veteran-youngster pair might prove beneficial for the team. And according to Estepp, even the Ty Norris move is a step in the positive direction.

Further in the analysis, he said, “I like bringing Ty Norris in he has a strong reputation of building up race teams.” Norris served as the President and Chief Business Officer of the team since its inception in 2021 by Justin Marks. Since Trackhouse’s growth has been instrumental. The one-driver team started with Daniel Suarez and has grown to three with the 2022 final-four driver, Ross Chastain. And now the former supercar champion SVG is also in the mix. The team also has NASCAR prodigy Connor Zilisch in their rooster.

Clearly, Norris has the experience of growing teams and would hopefully do the same with Kaulig in 2025. Do you think Kaulig will bounce back next year?