Kaulig Racing officially announced their 2022 crew chief lineup for the NASCAR Cup and NASCAR Xfinity Series ranks on Saturday morning.
As far as the team’s maiden full-time season in the NASCAR Cup Series, Matt Swiderski will call the shots for the No. 16 team, which will be driven by a combination of AJ Allmendinger, Daniel Hemric and Noah Gragson this season.
Swiderski was the crew chief for the team’s part-time No. 16 Cup Series entry, which scored a win, two top-fives and four top-10s in just nine starts, last season.
The nine races in 2021 were the first experience for Swiderski as a Cup Series level crew chief, but he definitely impressed and will look to keep that momentum going in 2022.
Trent Owens will assume the crew chief role for the No. 31 team, which will be driven by Justin Haley for the full season.
Owens, who served as the crew chief for Ryan Preece on the No. 37 JTG Daugherty Racing team in 2021, has one-career NASCAR Cup Series win as a crew chief.
However, with 10 years of experience at the sport’s highest level, he should be steady experience to the new NASCAR Cup Series team.
In the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Jason Trinchere (Allmendinger crew chief in 2021), will serve as the crew chief for Landon Cassill and the No. 10 team. Last season, Trinchere teamed with Allmendinger to score five wins and the duo made a Championship 4 appearance.
Trinchere will look to help guide Cassill to his first-career NASCAR National Series victory in 2022.
Alex Yontz will reamin with the No. 11 team with his new driver Hemric. Yontz has five wins in 89 races as a NASCAR Xfinity Series crew chief. Over the last two seasons, Yontz has guided the No. 11 Kaulig team to four of those wins and Justin Haley made the Championship 4 in 2020 with Yontz turning the wrenches.
Bruce Schlicker (Jeb Burton crew chief in 2021) will move to the No. 16 team with Allmendinger as the driver.
Schlicker, who has 97 starts as a NASCAR Xfinity Series crew chief, earned his first win last season in a rain-shortened victory at Talladega Superspeedway.
Kaulig Racing has made huge leaps in their status as a NASCAR National Series team in a short period of time. The team, which is owned by Matt Kaulig and managed by Chris Rice, will look to continue taking steps forward in 2022.
