Latest news with #KauligRacing
NBC Sports
3 days ago
- Automotive
- NBC Sports
AJ Allmendinger's team faces penalties after violation ahead of Cup practice at Nashville
LEBANON, Tenn. — AJ Allmendinger's team faces additional penalties after NASCAR officials discovered an unapproved adjustment to the No. 16 Kaulig Racing car before Saturday's practice session at Nashville Superspeedway. All cars had to pass pre-race inspection ahead of Saturday's practice and qualifying sessions. Allmendinger's car was on pit road when officials suspected an illegal modification had been made to the car. The car was ordered back to the garage and NASCAR found that an unapproved adjustment had been made. The team was forced to undo that change and had to go back through inspection before being allowed to participate in practice. NASCAR also held the team for 10 minutes in the 25-minute session. Additional penalties could be announced later in the day. Allmendinger is coming off a fourth-place finish in last weekend's Coca-Cola 600. That finished moved Allmendinger up eight spots in the season standings to 17th. Sunday's race at Nashville begins the second half of the regular season.
Fox News
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Fox News
NASCAR's Christian Eckes aims for breakthrough at Nashville during tough Xfinity season
Christian Eckes found his footing last year in the Craftsman Truck Series. He posted a third-place finish after winning three races and earning 22 top 10 finishes, but he made a major move. This year, the 24-year-old is in his first Xfinity Series season, and while he hasn't found similar success, he knew it was a necessary change. "I felt like I had gotten to a point in the Truck Series where I wasn't content or happy with the success, but it definitely got to a point where I felt pretty comfortable about moving to the next level, and I felt like this was a great opportunity to go get in some different series with hopefully a ladder to Cup, as well," Eckes, who now races with Kaulig Racing, told Fox News Digital in a recent interview. To go along with his move to Xfinity, Eckes partnered with Celsius, the energy drink he says has given him huge boosts on race day. "It's been a blast so far. I've been able to meet a lot of cool people and obviously drink some good drinks along the way. And I'm looking forward to the future as well," Eckes said. "It's helped me a lot. Some of these races are at night, or even in the morning, really. So getting that caffeine in definitely helps as well as the hydration packets. There's a lot of things that they do that help us succeed. So yeah, definitely a big part of our race weekends." Eckes admitted this season has not gone as he'd like. He has only six top 10 finishes this year. "We're still trying to find our way," Eckes said. "We've had some success here and there, have had some speed, but not on a consistent basis. So, that's kind of our No. 1 thing right now is to try to push that forward and get to where we feel like we should be, and that's contending on a weekly basis." This weekend, Eckes will be racing in Nashville, where he reached the pinnacle of success. He won there last year, and Kaulig has taken the checkered flag there before. "Nashville should be a good place for us. I won the race last year in the Truck Series, so hopefully it's the weekend that we finally turned around," he said. Eckes admitted he was not a fan of Nashville in the past, but "leading every lap last year, I like it a little better now." "I've done it in a truck before, so hopefully I can repeat that success. It's gonna take a lot. The Xfinity Series is challenging to win. You gotta be perfect in every aspect or as close to perfect as you can be. It's gonna take a lot, but I feel confident in our team to do it." Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
NBC Sports
27-05-2025
- Automotive
- NBC Sports
Reigning Australian Supercars champion to run NASCAR Cup race at Chicago for Kaulig Racing
Reigning Australian Supercars champion Will Brown will return to NASCAR to compete for Kaulig Racing in the July 6 Chicago Street Race Cup event, the team announced Tuesday. Brown will drive the No. 13 for Kaulig Racing at Chicago and be a teammate to AJ Allmendinger and Ty Dillon. 'After watching SVG (Shane van Gisbergen) win the 2023 Chicago NASCAR race and getting to drive myself at Sonoma last year, I've been really keen to have a go at the Grant Park 165,' said Brown in a statement from the team. 'The Supercars calendar aligned this year to give me time to get over to Charlotte early to prepare and give the race a crack! I have watched Kaulig Racing closely this season and I'm really excited to get behind the wheel of the MobileX and Shaw and Partners Financial Services No. 13!' Dustin Long, Brown is coming off a 2024 season that saw him win the Supercars title in Australia, scoring five wins and 19 podium finishes, the first time in 40 years that a driver had earned a podium in every round in that series. The 26-year-old Australian made his Cup debut last year at Sonoma, driving a third entry for Richard Childress Racing. He finished 31st.
NBC Sports
16-05-2025
- Automotive
- NBC Sports
Richard Childress seeks answers to Kansas engine failure for AJ Allmendinger
ECR Engines is closing in on a cause for AJ Allmendinger's blown engine last weekend at Kansas Speedway, a failure that led to the driver's radio rant against the engine company that Richard Childress serves as Chairman and CEO. Allmendinger's engine blew after six laps last weekend. After the engine blew, Allmendinger said on his team's radio: 'Hey ECR, you guys (expletive) suck.' When a team member asked if he had lost an engine, Allmendinger replied on the radio: 'Yeah, shockingly.' The engine failure was the second of the season for Allmendinger. Those have been the only two engine failures for ECR in the Cup Series. ECR provides engines for Kaulig Racing, Richard Childress Racing, Trackhouse Racing and Beard Motorsports. Nate Ryan, Childress told NBC Sports on Friday at North Wilikesboro that he had yet to talk to Allmendinger but expressed his displeasure with Allmendinger's comments, noting how other drivers have reacted on a team's radio after an engine failure. 'The 12 (Ryan Blaney) blew up two times,' Childress said. 'The 48 (Alex Bowman) blew up (one time). They never said anything. It's how you want to run your mouth.' Childress said he wanted to talk to Allmendinger when there was a definitive answer to the engine's failure. 'I want to know what happened to the engine,' Childress said. 'When (Allmendinger) jumps out (of the car at Kansas), he don't even know if the belt come off the oil pump or what.' Adding to the frustrations for Allmendinger is that the engine failure marked the second consecutive race he failed to finish. A crash ended his day at Texas in the previous race. Those two finishes dropped him from 15th in the points to 25th heading into next weekend's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Dustin Long, Danny Lawrence, vice president of alliance operations for ECR Engines, told NBC Sports that debris may have caused the issue with Allmendinger's engine last weekend at Kansas. 'It was a bearing issue,' Lawrence said. 'We at RCR and ECR have a quality control department. They're struggling to figure out exactly what happened. They've sent the bearings off to be analyzed, but the initial (cause) looks like lack of lubrication. 'That engine had ran at Darlington. We're not so sure that we didn't have some kind of foreign material, something, an oil line or something happened for (the) lack of lubrication.' Lawrence said what caused the failure with two of the eight bearings should be known this week. As to what could have got in the line, Lawrence is unsure. 'We have filters on the oil going in, we have filters on the oil coming out,' Lawrence said. 'So it's baffling, but Richard is holding a strong arm (saying) 'I want answers to be able to show (Kaulig Racing President) Chris Rice and (team owner) Matt Kaulig. We're going to know exactly (what happened) and try to make sure this never happens again.'
Fox News
12-05-2025
- Automotive
- Fox News
NASCAR driver AJ Allmendinger blows up at engine manufacturer 6 laps into race
A.J. Allmendinger had a tough time during Sunday's AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway on Sunday. The NASCAR Cup Series driver blew a gasket internally as his engine struggled to pick up the pace within the first six laps of the race. He took a shot at his team's engine manufacturer while driving, and it was heard on the radio. He told his team he had lost the engine. "Hey ECR, you guys f---ing suck," Allmendinger was heard saying of the company. Allmendinger finished 38th. ECR Engines powers Richard Childress Racing, Trackhouse Racing, Kaulig Racing and Beard Motorsports on the Cup Series circuit. The company also powers Xfinity Series teams, including Jordan Anderson Racing, Big Machine Racing, Our Motorsports, Cope Family Racing, Viking Motorsports, Young's Motorsports and Alpha Prime Racing. WARNING: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE Allmendinger drives for Kaulig Racing. He put together three top-10 finishes this season and has been competing for a possible shot at the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs this season. But a dead-last finish at Kansas Speedway pushed him back six places to 25th in the standings. He finished 36th at Texas last week and 24th at Talladega a few weeks ago. Kyle Larson picked up the win at Kansas. It's the third of the season and his second straight at the track. He now has a 35-point lead over William Byron. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
