Building five race teams from scratch is far from a simple feat, especially in a series where a team has no previous experience. Yet Kaulig Racing owner Matt Kaulig can't help but smile when asked about his first foray into the Craftsman Truck Series.
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Sure, the man who loves trophy hunting hasn't celebrated in victory lane just yet, but he has seen improvement over the first 12 races of the 2026 season.
"It's a giant undertaking, and so from my perspective, we're rocking," Kaulig told FanBuzz during a one-on-one sitdown. "We're doing awesome.
"We figured coming in, like, it's going to take a while. I mean, it might take all season, it might take a year, right? So we're three months into a year, we're not even halfway through the season, and so I'm really proud of the team and how we've performed."
Time-stamped. Unfiltered. Non-stop.
Come along for the ride. ✈️🏁 pic.twitter.com/ZcZBMRTket— Matt Kaulig (@MattKaulig) June 5, 2026
Kaulig made a major decision last year. He decided to put his O'Reilly Auto Parts Series program on pause so that he could forge a partnership with Stellantis and Ram. He decided that he would continue to field two full-time cars in the Cup Series without any support from Chevrolet while also putting five full-time Ram 1500s on the grid each week in the Truck Series.
The team announced this partnership ahead of the 2025 Daytona summer race, providing a bit of a runway. Once the checkered flag waved at Phoenix Raceway in November, Kaulig Racing kicked off an incredibly busy offseason.
The team reworked its facilities, brought in numerous new employees, and began building all of the Ram 1500s that would head to Daytona in February.
The team also had to work on finding four full-time drivers and the many "free agents" who could fill out the roster of the fifth truck. Part of this process involved filming a reality TV show, Race for the Seat, that took up extensive time during the offseason.
Justin Haley, Daniel Dye, reigning ARCA champion Brenden Queen, and Race for the Seat winner Mini Tyrrell made up the full-time roster. Only two of these drivers had extensive experience in the Truck Series. Queen entered the season with five career starts while Tyrrell had none.
The team dealt with some struggles early on, especially as rain affected the ability to practice and work on the trucks. The Ram 1500s didn't have the same speed as the Toyota Tundras, Ford F-150s, and Chevrolet Silverados fielded by teams with far more experience in the series.
This could have created frustration among the drivers, considering how they had won races in other series. Kaulig didn't see this happen.
"It's a tall task that everybody in the garage, everybody in NASCAR knows," he said. "Like, how in the hell is your team... how are you really doing it? We're doing it. I mean, everybody's just going to work, and we've got a bunch of engineers, and they're just trying to figure things out.
"Our drivers are being very, very understanding. It's not like a situation where our drivers are complaining, 'Why are we so slow? What, this truck's not fast!'
"Like, they understand the whole situation, the whole task at hand, and it's to get better. This year is just about getting through the year and doing the best we can, and building. We're building something special."
The progress has become evident in the first 12 races. The drivers have combined for 10 top-10 finishes. Queen leads the way with three, and he has the best average finish at 17.0. Haley and LaJoie each have two top-10s. Tyrrell has one. Free agents Colin Braun and AJ Allmendinger each have one.
But while Kaulig has seen progress from his drivers, he has also been forced to make some unexpected decisions. He had to revamp the driver lineup with very little notice.
Kaulig changed his full-time lineup after a mere three races. The reason is that Dye received an indefinite suspension from NASCAR and Kaulig Racing due to comments he made on a livestream about Team Penske driver David Malukas.
Once he completed mandatory sensitivity training and became eligible to return to racing, he and Kaulig Racing parted ways. The team moved Corey LaJoie from the free agent lineup into a full-time role to fill this gap and provide some veteran leadership.
Despite this early challenge, Kaulig has remained happy with how his team has approached the difficult task of competing full-time in the Truck Series.
It was a stretch to even get five trucks built and ready for Daytona in February, so the fact that the team has even one top-10 finish means they are ahead of schedule.
Feeling right at home in the @NASCAR_Trucks garage already. 😎 pic.twitter.com/MLP4v0KT0k
— Kaulig Trucks (@Kaulig_Trucks) February 12, 2026
That doesn't mean Kaulig is satisfied. After all, he wants to win. This is also true for Kaulig Racing CEO Chris Rice and all of the key figures at Ram who have made the decision to return to NASCAR.
The members of this group just understand that this season is only step one. The plan is to continue establishing a foothold in the Craftsman Truck Series while beginning to win races and contend for spots in The Chase — NASCAR's updated playoff system.
But The goals extend beyond simply wanting to get Ram back to victory lane. The ultimate plan, which Stellantis has acknowledged in the past, is to get Dodge back into the Cup Series.
Kaulig Racing is the logical partner for this move, whenever it may happen. The partnership is already in place.
Accomplishing this would take Kaulig Racing from one that has previously relied on an alliance with Richard Childress Racing to a team with direct factory support.
"(Joe Gibbs Racing), Hendrick (Motorsports), and (Team) Penske, I mean they own their manufacturer," Kaulig said. "They are the OEM, and so everybody else is under whatever they want to do.
"It literally has taken us 10 years, 11 years to get our own OEM. And so now that we've gotten them back in the sport, now we're building, and we will build to that. So that someday, everybody will be like, 'Ah, well, we're not Kaulig. We're not Dodge Ram. We can't do what they do.'"
