While there have been rumors, Dale Earnhardt Jr. seems to have confirmed them. Ty Dillon heading to Kaulig Racing looks like it’s happening. Dillon has been a bit of a journeyman in NASCAR recently. He has funding, but the results just haven’t stacked up.
On his “2023 Report Card & Way Too Early Championship Picks” episode of The Dale Jr. Download, the topic of Kaulig came up. Dale Jr. was giving his takes on next season. Dillon is out of the Spire Motorsports 77 car, and Carson Hocevar will jump into that ride for his rookie season.
We know that Daniel Hemric is going to the Cup Series with Kaulig Racing. His teammate just hasn’t been officially announced. Earnhardt had no trouble just saying Ty Dillon’s name when talking about the second car for that organization.
“Daniel Hemric is coming back into the Cup Series with Kaulig,” Dale Jr. said on his podcast. “Ty Dillon’s going over there to run a second car and so those cars struggled so badly at Phoenix. It was not good. I think this is going to be a very difficult year on the Cup side for Kaulig. I don’t know that that’s a big surprise to anybody.”
So, I tend to agree with Earnhardt here. AJ Allmendinger went out and won at the Roval this season. He can win you one to two races a year on the road courses. Will he ever win a championship? No. But it is perplexing they can’t get more funding for Allmendinger in the Cup Series.
Now, 2024 has fewer road courses. But I don’t see how Ty Dillon will drive the No. 16 better than Allmendinger.
Kaulig Racing in a strange spot for 2024
In the last few years, it felt like Kaulig Racing was picking up momentum. They had wins. From Xfinity to Cup, things were moving along. Justin Haley in the 31, a great young talent. Chandler Smith was another great young talent they signed away from Joe Gibbs Racing in Xfinity.
All of a sudden…things feel empty. Lost. I’d rather put Chandler Smith in my Cup car than Ty Dillon, if I’m being honest. But now Haley is going to Rick Ware Racing, Smith is back at JGR, and things don’t look promising.
Allmendinger is going to go back down to the Xfinity Series and race well. I really believe that. No one has ever really worried about that Xfinity program, to be honest. It’s the Cup Series side of things where it becomes concerning.
AJ Allmendinger finished 21st in the points standings and Justin Haley 26th. Ty Dillon was P32, last among full-time drivers. Will he and Hemric do better than 21st and 26th with a win, five top-5s and 13 top-10s? I don’t think they will.
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