NASCAR powerhouse considered stopping after first win

Matt Kaulig’s goal when he entered NASCAR in 2016 was to win a race. Now he has built a powerhouse that he hopes to continue to expand.

Several new team owners have entered the NASCAR Cup Series within the last year or so, including celebrities such as Pitbull, Michael Jordan, and Floyd Mayweather.

Entrepreneur Matt Kaulig finds himself among that new wave of owners. Kaulig Racing, which have competed full-time in the Xfinity Series since 2016, made their Cup Series debut in the 2020 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway before running a part-time schedule in 2021.

After purchasing two charters from Spire Motorsports last year, they now compete full-time with two cars in 2022: one for Justin Haley and one shared between A.J. Allmendinger, Noah Gragson and Daniel Hemric.

But it wasn’t always Kaulig’s vision to get to this point.

We had the chance to talk to him last week after his team’s first few races as a full-time Cup Series team.

“When we started the team back then with [team president] Chris Rice, I honestly don’t know that we envisioned even having more than one car in the Xfinity Series — ever,” Kaulig told Beyond the Flag. “We were just venturing into a sport that’s really hard to get into. It costs a lot of money if you’re going to run right, if you’re going to compete and want to win.

“Those were our goals and we know it would be a struggle and a really difficult thing even to get up there in the top 10, top five, and win races in the Xfinity Series. So no, would’ve never dreamt or thought that we could run on Sundays, much less compete and much less win in the Cup Series.”