On Saturday afternoon, in a press conference at the Daytona Dodge Chrysler Jeep Ram dealership in the Auto Mall, Kaulig Racing announced that the organization will field five Ram trucks in the manufacturer’s return to the series in 2026.
To make the massive undertaking a reality, Kaulig will have to add at least 50 new hires to its work force, according to team president Chris Rice.
Though Kaulig has yet to name the drivers for its trucks, Rice said the organization is committed to running all five entries for the entire 2026 season.
“I have never been more excited or more enthusiastic to make any kind of announcement actually in my life,” said team owner and founder Matt Kaulig. “I’ve done a lot of announcements, I have a lot of businesses, and I’m just super excited about what we have going on and what the future holds.
“Everybody saw that Ram announced at Michigan a couple months ago that they’re coming back to NASCAR in the Truck Series, and I want to announce that we at Kaulig Racing are going to the Truck Series, and we couldn’t be more excited about it.”
Kaulig already fields Chevrolets in both the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series, a circumstance that will require a certain separation of the efforts of two different OEMs.
“We have never been in the Truck Series,” Rice said. “We don’t have anything going on in the Truck Series. To be able to go and run in the Truck Series, it’s a total separate business. If you follow us on social media, we have our own Truck Series social media.
“So, it’s a total separate deal. We’re very fortunate for what we’ve had over 10 years with Chevrolet, and it’s totally separate. Every OEM, I think, wants more OEMs in the sport. I don’t want to speak for NASCAR, but I think it’s healthy for the sport to have Ram come back.”
Kaulig will be the anchor factory team for the Ram brand and will operate out of the Kaulig facility on the Richard Childress Racing campus in Welcome, N.C. Kaulig has a technical alliance with Childress, a Chevrolet Tier 1 partner, for its NASCAR Cup and Xfinity teams.
Though Kaulig will look for sponsorship for its Ram trucks, the truck maker itself is committed to support the venture.
“We’re still working through all the sponsorship pieces… but Kaulig has a backstop with us that we’re not letting them hang on anything,” said Nate Buelow, director of marketing for Ram Trucks.
“So, we’re there to support them, although we are looking for key partners that we can bring in that will help us from a marketing perspective.”
At the announcement of the brand’s return at Michigan in June, Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis acknowledged that a long-term plan likely would involve the return of Dodge to the Cup Series. Buelow affirmed that posture on Saturday.
“Everybody wants to be in Cup, right?” he said.
Does that mean parent company Stellantis has designs to move in that direction with Kaulig?
“I think it’s a great question,” Buelow said. “I think we’ve got a lot on our plate right now with Truck and getting those five trucks fielded and being back here in Daytona in February next year to be out there and be competitive.
“That’s what we’re focused in on right now. Cup will come once we stand up the rest of this machine and we figure it all out.”
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