Kaulig Racing president Chris Rice said there are no hard feelings between the team and Justin Haley, and it was a mutual decision for both parties to separate in 2024.
“We love Justin,” Rice said Saturday at Pocono Raceway. “Justin’s done a really good job for us, won a lot of races for us. We’re going to miss him, for sure, but he’s still a part of the Kaulig family.
“(We’re) happy for Justin to continue his tenure in Cup racing. You never know — down the road, he might be back with us.”
Rick Ware Racing announced earlier this week it had signed Haley to a multiyear deal beginning next season. Haley explained Saturday the decision came down to all the uncertainty around the sport over the next few years, and that he was wanted by Ware.
However, there was a chance for Haley to remain at Kaulig Racing. Haley’s contract was up this year, and Rice admitted the team doesn’t have a signed sponsor for his car for next season, so Haley made the best decision for himself going forward.
“We’ve had LeafFilter Gutter Protection for so long, and they’ve done a lot of races and been a big supporter of Justin Haley’s and still are,” Rice said. “The door wasn’t closed. It wasn’t like anybody got fired or anything like that. It was just we both had to make a tough decision (of), ‘Hey, we’ve got to move in a different direction and look at things for partners and different avenues.’ I think him making his move was because of us telling him that.”
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Kaulig Racing needs partners, Rice said. The organization fields two full-time Cup Series entries, with Haley driving the No. 31 Chevrolet and AJ Allmendinger in the No. 16 Chevrolet. Haley’s impending departure leaves the No. 31 seat to be filled, and Rice says the team is hard at work on that.
“We’ve been talking about the 31 for two and a half months, to be honest with you,” Rice said. “We knew this was a contract year for Justin Haley and we had two years with Justin in the Cup Series and a total of five, which is a long time in NASCAR. So, we knew it was coming. I would say we probably started talking back in January to people reaching out to us, what we were going to do, and stuff like that.
“You look at what partners will work with us. What drivers work with us because we are a little different than everybody else. What we do is we try to mix the guys what will work with us, and we can go win trophies.”
The team hopes to have the situation resolved by next month.
“Our plan is to be all set with our Cup stuff by August 15th,” Rice said. “It’ll be up to the partners and the guy that’s driving it when they want to do it, but our goal is to be done with that.
“Truthfully, we have three cars in Xfinity that have to be done too. Chandler [Smith] has a three-year deal with us, which is good. But that is the hard part — getting this stuff done and getting it announced.”