Kaulig Racing boss Chris Rice has addressed AJ Allmendinger's future with the team. Sharing a detailed future plan, the Kaulig Chief Executive Officer hinted at a potential lifetime contract for their faithful driver.

Rice recently sat for an interview on Tuesday's episode of the "Door Bumper Clear" podcast, where he unravelled everything around Kaulig Racing. While speaking about the team's future regarding drivers, he opened up about their star driver, AJ Allmendinger, and the team's plan surrounding him.

"He's a special guy in my life that a lot of people don't understand," Rice said. "He's an amazing person. He's a great dad, a great racer. AJ's contracts through '29 with the option through '32, where the caveat is he gets to decide when he's done full-time racing, but he's still going to drive after he's done. He's still going to be part of us, he's still going to be a mentor."

Following this, Rice revealed Kaulig Racing wants to have AJ Allmendinger as a mentor to young drivers after he is done racing. Similar to what Dale Earnhardt Jr. is to a lot of young drivers, even years after retirement, is what Kaulig wants Allmendinger to be at Kaulig.

"They got Dale Jr. to talk to. We need AJ to be able to have somebody to conversate with the Mini Tyrells, the Butterbean Queens. The people like that we're going to have run through our race team, and AJ will always be part of Kaulig Racing," he further added in the podcast.

Notably, AJ Allmendinger arrived at Kaulig Racing in 2021 under a part-time obligation. After two years of part-time driving, he joined full-time in 2023 but moved to being a part-timer again in 2024.

In 2025, he returned as a full-timer and is set to continue in the same role in 2026. And now with the deal set in place, one can expect him to be associated with Kaulig for at least 2032, until the team or he changes their mind.

AJ Allmendinger hit a big NASCAR milestone at Sonoma

AJ Allmendinger reached a massive NASCAR milestone during the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at the Sonoma Raceway. He reached his 500th Cup Series start. With that, the 2006 Cup debutant became one of only 48 drivers to reach the feat.

Chris Rice hailed his veteran driver for hitting the landmark.

"It’s an amazing accomplishment, 500 starts," Rice said (as quoted by Total Motorsport). "From where he started when he first came into the Cup Series to where he is today, winning two Cup Series races with us and 16 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race wins with us.

"Beyond that, it’s about being the friend he is and being somebody special that means so much to me and this team. He’s been our leader since 2019, and he’s going to continue being our leader for a long time."

Allmendinger started the race from eighth place, but came home in 16th.

Besides NASCAR, AJ Allmendinger also boasts a respectable IndyCar and IMSA resume. In 2006, he won five IndyCar races en route to third in the championship, and as for his endurance career, he won IMSA's 24 Hours of Daytona in 2012.

As things stand, we could see him reach over 600 starts in the Cup Series if he sees through his contract. He would become immortalized in the history books of Kaulig Racing, and at the same time, a legend of the sport.

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Written by

Sabyasachi Biswas

Edited by

Yash Kotak