One day after parting ways with driver Josh Williams, Kaulig Racing has addressed a lingering question. The team has shut down the reports that its Xfinity Series program is going away.
"There will be an Xfinity program in 2026 and Cup program, for sure," Kaulig Racing President Chris Rice told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio's "The Morning Drive" on Thursday. "And I know I've seen something where everybody said the Xfinity program's shutting down. It's not shutting down. It's our cornerstone.
"Will we have three cars? Man, I don't know. It just depends on the funding. We're sitting there with like 74 Xfinity chassis and bodies and stuff. So we have a lot of equipment sitting in the shop. So it's not like it's going anywhere. We have a lot of people there and we're going to be around a long time."
Kaulig Racing started the season with three full-time cars in its Xfinity program. Rookies Daniel Dye and Christian Eckes moved up from the Craftsman Truck Series while Williams, the veteran, returned for his second season in the No. 11 Chevrolet.
Eckes and Dye are 16th and 17th in the Xfinity standings after 21 races. Williams was 19th before Kaulig Racing parted ways with him this week. The team's drivers have contended for some top-10 finishes, but they have not had the same pace as cars from Joe Gibbs Racing or JR Motorsports.
This is something Rice and Kaulig Racing want to change.
Dye and Eckes will continue to gain experience this season while Kaulig Racing will use its third full-time car for a different purpose -- evaluation. The team will use a rotating group of drivers, starting with Carson Hocevar, to judge the level of the program. Is it close to returning to the Trophy Hunting of years past, or does Kaulig Racing have far more work to do?
🗣️ "We're gonna put out a statement here [...] pretty quick."@KauligRacing President @C_Rice1 gave an update on who will be in the No. 11 car for the rest of the @NASCAR_Xfinity Series season.
More → https://t.co/MKhd9eLpQA pic.twitter.com/8P0mrT0TA8
— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) July 31, 2025
The team hasn't revealed the other drivers who will control the No. 11 this season, but Rice noted that AJ Allmendinger will not be in this group. He wants to avoid wearing out the veteran driver after issues in past seasons.
"AJ is doing such a good job on Sundays and helping that program elevate to where it needs to be," Rice said. "We've had fast cars over the last, I don't know, month-and-a-half and thankful for AJ and Ty Dillon for doing that. So it's like we are not going to wear him out.
"I go back to the Iowa race last year. (Allmendinger) hit the wall so hard on Saturday and then he hit the wall so hard on Sunday. We can't lose that. We can't lose our ability to run fast on Sunday. So we're not even we're not even talking about it. He will not be running at Watkins Glen."
Now that Rice has shut down the rumors of the Xfinity program's demise, what is next? Does Kaulig Racing have plans for any other racing series? Is there credence to the rumors of a Ram partnership for a Truck Series program?
As Rice explained, Kaulig has taken part in conversations with Dodge/Ram, but he quickly noted that numerous other teams have also done so. Rice also said that Kaulig has continued to talk to Chevrolet, their current OEM partner, about what they can do with them moving forward.
"We'll see how it all shakes out, and you're right, I'm sure that lots of teams are talking to the Ram brand as far as 2026 and years beyond," Rice said.