While the big news of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series silly season includes two new NASCAR Cup Series teams — Michael Jordan’s currently unnamed team and Justin Mark’s TrackHouse team — it looks like there will be another new full-time team potentially by the 2022 season.
Kaulig Racing, which currently fields three entries — two full-time and one part-time — in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, appears to be poised to move to the NCS according to a report from Crain’s Cleveland Business.
“I wouldn’t put that down as a hard goal, but it’s looking like we’re moving in that direction,” team owner Matt Kaulig said to the outlet.
Of course, the 2022 season will mark the introduction of the Next Gen race car in the NASCAR Cup Series. This is a big deal for new organizations or previous underdog teams as it will give them an opportunity to start on a clean slate and potentially work their way into an even playing field with the dominant teams in the series.
Kaulig Racing was established in 2016 and has competed with at least one full-time car in the NASCAR Xfinity Series since then. Overall, the organization has won seven races in NXS competition, and both of their full-time drivers in 2020 — Justin Haley and Ross Chastain — are in the Playoffs.
Earlier this season, Kaulig Racing did make their NASCAR Cup Series debut with Justin Haley driving the No. 16 car for the team in the season-opening Daytona 500.
Haley started 33rd and finished 13th in that start.
To read the full report from Crain’s Cleveland Business, click here.
