Team owner Roger Penske is involved with multiple OEMs—Ford in NASCAR, Chevrolet in IndyCar and Porsche in IMSA and FIA World Endurance Championship.
However, Matt Kaulig is the first team owner to deal with two different OEMs in the same sanctioning body.
In 2026, Kaulig Racing will field two Chartered Cup teams in Chevrolets, three cars in the Xfinity Series in Chevrolets and five Ram trucks.
Kaulig Racing has put itself in an unusual situation for 2026, fielding teams for two different OEMs in NASCAR’s three national touring series.
Team owner Matt Kaulig says his Welcome, North Carolina-based operation will continue to field Chevrolets in NASCAR’s Cup and Xfinity series while serving as Ram’s anchor factory team in the Craftsman Truck Series.
“This is foreign territory to me,” Kaulig admitted. “I’ve never had two manufacturers. I do know we’re going to keep it separate.”
Team owner Roger Penske is involved with multiple OEMs – Ford in NASCAR, Chevrolet in IndyCar and Porsche in IMSA and FIA World Endurance Championship. However, Kaulig is the first team owner to deal with two different OEMs in the same sanctioning body. In 2026, the team will field two Chartered Cup teams, three cars in the Xfinity Series and five trucks. Drivers and crew chiefs for the truck entries will be announced later.
Kaulig said they were looking at other buildings in Welcome, North Carolina, where the truck operation could be housed.
“All NASCAR teams have been open about wanting to be a key partner,” Kaulig said when asked about possibly going with Dodge when that OEM returns to Cup racing. “If there’s no room at the other OEMs, then there’s no room. Chevy understands that. (Right now) we’re just talking about Ram trucks, getting into the truck series and we’ll deal with all that stuff if and when it comes up.”
Ty Norris, Kaulig Racing’s chief business officer, says the trucks are sponsored by Ram.
“Ram and Kaulig will be working together with third parties to take (paint) schemes,” Norris said. “We know what our budgets are. We know what our backing is, and that’s how they wanted to commit to us.”
Norris said it wasn’t a situation where Ram gave them some parts and pieces along with a bonus program and told them to find drivers who could bring money to the program or find sponsorship.
“They’re like, here’s the number, let’s grow it and let’s go race,” Norris said. “That’s the difference. That stability comes with sponsorship that is locked in for the life of the deal. That is what separates this deal from maybe anyone that we’ve ever done.”
Norris said Kaulig Racing and Ram executives first met at Stellantis North American headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan, in April, two months before Ram announced its return to NASCAR at the June Michigan race.
“They were going through their team evaluations,” Norris said. “They were trying to figure out what they wanted to do, timing, how many, who, what, where, when. So, when we went to the room we were supposed to be there for an hour. We were there for four hours. We walked out, they looked at us and said, ‘You are our guys.’ It’s taken a while to get to this point.”
Norris listed several reasons for Ram’s decision to go with Kaulig Racing.
• Kaulig is a young owner who’s very passionate about the sport.
• Kaulig has spent a great deal of his own money to be in the sport and stay in it.
• Team President Chris Rice’s background of being able to make teams successful.
Norris also noted his 30 years in the sport and his three previous team launches.
“What was funny was they put a few of their marketing ideas on the screen and we started interacting around them,” Norris said. “They were like, you guys totally get it. You totally get who we are. And Matt’s like, that’s who we are. So, when we left that room they felt like, OK, this is our partner. This has been a long time coming, but we finally got here.”
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