Kaulig Racing To Anchor Ram’s Truck Series Return

Kaulig Racing will field five NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series teams next year. (Scotte Sprinkle/Motorsports Hotspot photo)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Kaulig Racing revealed Saturday morning that the organization is making a major expansion into the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series next year.

Announced at Daytona Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep-Ram, across the street from Daytona Int’l Speedway, team owner Matt Kaulig confirmed that his race team will field five full-time Truck Series entries as the anchor team for Ram Trucks’ return to NASCAR.

No drivers were announced, but the passion from both sides for the new endeavor was clear.

“This partnership represents far more than a new chapter in Kaulig Racing’s history, it’s a union of shared values,” said Matt Kaulig, owner of Kaulig Racing. “Over the past decade, our team has built a legacy rooted in performance, integrity, and giving back to the community. To now join forces as the anchor team for Ram’s return to NASCAR is both an honor and a responsibility. Together, we’re ready to set a new standard on race day and in the impact we make off the racetrack.”

“We needed a partner that truly aligns with the Ram brand and embraces our unconventional approach to NASCAR,” added Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis. “With Kaulig Racing, we found the perfect synergy to drive our ’Last Tenth’ culture forward.”

Saturday’s reveal was an extension of Ram’s June 8 announcement at Michigan Int’l Speedway that the brand would return to major American stock-car racing beginning next season.

The Ram 1500 model will be used for Truck Series competition, with Kaulig Racing at the helm. The Truck Series operations will be based alongside the rest of the Kaulig team in Welcome, N.C.

“We need to present ourselves correctly, and there’s a lot of responsibility in carrying that brand with us,” said Ty Norris, Chief Business Officer for Kaulig Racing. “When a company this size, a great American company in that blue-collar approach to everything, comes to us and wants to work with us … there’s a responsibility to take that brand and reintroduce it to the NASCAR fan base.”

“We are proud of what the men and women of Kaulig Racing have accomplished over the past decade,” added Kaulig Racing president Chris Rice. “Special thanks to Ty for his dedication to Kaulig Racing and helping get us to the next level. … We don’t want to fail, and the way you don’t fail is [having] a lot of great people in our shop that can make [success] happen.”

While Kaulig Racing will field Rams in the Truck Series, Rice and Kaulig both affirmed that the team will continue to field Chevrolets in the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series next year.

The team has two Cup Series charters, guaranteeing entry into every race on the schedule, and has fielded three full-time Xfinity Series teams this season.

“To be able to go and run in the Truck Series, it’s a totally separate – basically – business. We are very fortunate for [the relationship] we’ve had for more than 10 years with Chevrolet. And, I think, every OEM wants more OEMs in the sport,” Rice noted. “I think it’s healthy for the sport to be able to have Ram come back.

“We are one team working on stuff, but this is such a big undertaking that [the Truck operation] will have its own people and its own engineers,” added Rice. “It’s all about respect for one another. … We understand that there are going to be some firewalls that are put up [between manufacturers] and we’re going to do whatever we have to do to be respectful to run both these manufacturers successfully.”

Kaulig Racing will debut under the Ram banner on Friday night, Feb. 13 when the 2026 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season kicks off under the lights at Daytona.

The race will mark the first for a factory-supported Ram team in the Truck Series since 2012, the last year that Brad Keselowski Racing fielded Ram entries at NASCAR’s third-highest level.