NASCAR
AJ Allmendinger Taking Over Kaulig Racing No. 16 Cup Car for 2023, Chandler Smith Joins Xfinity Team
LEXINGTON, N.C. – Announced just days after his clutch Talladega win, AJ Allmendinger will move on to the NASCAR Cup series in 2023. The current driver of the Xfinity Series No. 16 Chevrolet for Kaulig Racing will don the same number on Sundays next season. This will mark Allmendinger’s first full-time Cup campaign since his initial retirement after 2018. Allmendinger, who will be 41 by next season, is ready to go trophy hunting on Sundays.
Since joining Kaulig Racing, Allmendinger has earned 11 wins, with seven of those coming on road courses. This has made him stand alone as the winningest road-course racer in NASCAR National Series competition.
“When I first went to Kaulig Racing to compete part-time in 2019 and 2020, I remember how I felt on the weekends that I wasn’t racing and how much I missed it,” Allmendinger said. “Competing full-time is a mentally tough battle at times. No matter how much work you put in as a driver, there’s a chance you will not achieve success. For a while, I think I lost that competitive drive to be the best. Kaulig Racing helped me find that again. I now feel more competitive than ever and believe there is more success to be earned as a team.”
After retiring from full-time Cup competition in 2018, Allmendinger returned to Xfinity part-time with Kaulig in 2019 and 2020. This span was highlighted by Allmendinger earning the team its second-ever win at the inaugural Charlotte ROVAL race. 2020 would also see Allmendinger win twice races in 11 starts. Following the, he decided to compete full time in Xfinity for 2021.
Not only did Allmendinger win five Xfinity races in 2021, including the regular season championship race at Bristol, he also ran select Cup races for the team’s part-time entry. The 16 won last summer at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in the team’s seventh-ever start.
With only 13 Cup starts in 2022, Allmendinger has recorded one runner-up finish, five top-10s and five laps led. Allmendinger will compete Sunday at the Charlotte ROVAL for his final Cup race of 2022.
“I first called AJ (Allmendinger) in 2019 to ask if he would run a couple Xfinity Series races for us,” said Chris Rice, president of Kaulig Racing. “He agreed to do five, and he was disqualified in the first two races. Although it was two, tough results, AJ saw what we were trying to build here at Kaulig Racing, and better yet, he believed in what we were building. After the success we’ve had together since then, we think the next step is for him to help us do the same with our young, Cup Series team.”
2022 marked Kaulig Racing’s first full Cup season with Justin Haley in the team’s No. 31 entry, as well as the No. 16 entry shared by Allmendinger, Daniel Hemric and Noah Gragson.
“I’ve always told Matt Kaulig and Chris Rice that I will do whatever they think is best for the company, and as long as I am helping the team, I will keep doing it,” continued Allmendinger. “I love working with Justin (Haley) as well and being able to see his growth. I think we have more growth to do together, and it makes returning to the Cup Series full-time with Kaulig Racing an easy decision.”
“It’s hard to not think of AJ Allmendinger when you think of Kaulig Racing,” said Matt Kaulig, Kaulig Racing team owner. “When we started this team in 2016, I never imagined we’d have won as many races as we have, including a Cup Series race and two regular-season championships in two years. We are all truly excited to be able to say that we were able to get AJ Allmendinger out of retirement, not once, but twice now, to compete for Kaulig Racing full-time!”
Replacing Allmendinger on the Xfinity Series side of Kaulig will be current Truck Series driver Chandler Smith. Smith, 20, will be making the jump up to Xfinity after two full seasons in the Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 18 Toyota. In the thick of that championship fight, Smith has three wins so far in 2022.
