September 21, 2021
For the first time in team history, Kaulig Racing has won the regular-season championship, following AJ Allmendinger’s win in the Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway. In 2021 alone, Allmendinger has earned four wins in the NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) and earned the team’s first-ever NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard.
“Competing for a championship at this point in my career is unexpected. After 2018, I didn’t know if I would ever compete full-time again. To be at this point now and competing for the Xfinity Series championship and winning the regular-season championship is special to me. I’m loving every minute of it, and I try not to take anything for granted. We have to take each race in the playoffs step-by-step, and with the championship race, we have to be spot on. At the end of the day, if that doesn’t happen, it doesn’t take away from the great season we’ve had.”
For the third-straight year, Justin Haley has earned a spot in the NXS playoffs for Kaulig Racing. Haley secured his spot in the 2021 NXS playoffs by winning the WaWa250 at Daytona International Speedway, his fourth win at a super speedway race for Kaulig Racing.
“We had a tough run earlier this season and struggled to regroup a little, but it seems like the past seven weeks or so we’ve really hit our stride. We’ve been running really well and have been consistently fast. I’m feeling confident heading into the first round of the playoffs. We’ve proven we can make it to the Championship 4 race, so I’m really looking forward to it. We have a lot of momentum within the team itself after these past few weeks and AJ (Allmendinger) winning the regular-season championship for Kaulig Racing. I think we are in a really good spot.”
Burton cemented his spot in the 2021 NXS playoffs earlier this season in the team’s first trip to Talladega Superspeedway. He has accumulated seven top five and 15 top-10 finishes for Kaulig Racing this year.
“I’m really excited for my first playoff experience and to have the chance to run for a championship for all of my partners. I feel like we are building momentum at the right time and have a good amount of speed and a great team behind me. For these playoff races, it’s about having clean races, making minimal mistakes and having solid finishes. If we can do that, I think we have a good shot to make it to Phoenix for the championship race.”