Kaulig Racing took to social media to reveal that veteran AJ Allmendinger will be returning to the NASCAR Cup Series as a full-time competitor with the organization in 2025.
The news comes as the 42-year-old Allmendinger from Los Gatos, California, is currently competing on a full-time basis in the Xfinity Series with Kaulig after spending the previous season in the Cup Series with the organization. Through 20-scheduled starts this season, Allmendinger has recorded three top-five results, 10 top-10 results and an average-finishing result of 13.9, where he is ranked in sixth place in the regular-season standings. In addition to his full-time Xfinity role, Allmendinger has made 10 starts in Kaulig’s No. 16 “all-star” entry, where his best results are three sixth-place results, including this year’s 66th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.
Allmendinger, a former Champ Car competitor, made his Cup Series debut with Red Bull Racing at Bristol Motor Speedway in March 2007. Since then, he has made a total of 440 career starts in NASCAR’s premier series from 2007 to 2023, with his previous starts coming with Michael Waltrip Racing, Richard Petty Motorsports, Team Penske, Phoenix Racing, JTG Daugherty Racing and Kaulig Racing, which he began making Cup starts with the latter organization in 2021.
Throughout the 440 starts in the Cup Series level, Allmendinger notched his first career victory at Watkins Glen International in 2014, which also marked the first victory for JTG-Daugherty Racing, and went on to qualify for his first Cup Series Playoffs before settling in a career-best 13th place in the final standings. Seven years later, the Californian capitalized on an overtime shootout to score his second victory and the first for Kaulig Racing in the Cup level at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course as a part-time competitor. This past October, he piloted Kaulig’s No. 16 entry to his third and latest Cup victory at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course.
In addition to having three Cup Series victories within his resume, Allmendinger has accumulated four poles, 20 top-five results, 78 top-10 results, 635 laps led and an average-finishing result of 20.7 in NASCAR’s premier series. He has also made 14 starts in the Craftsman Truck Series and won 17 races in the Xfinity Series, 15 of which came while driving for Kaulig between 2019 and 2023.
With Allmendinger set to be elevated back to full-time Cup racing in 2025 and in the No. 16 Chevrolet entry, the rest of Kaulig’s racing program for next season, including the Xfinity Series teams and the No. 31 Cup Series entry that is currently being piloted by Daniel Hemric, have yet to be determined.
For this upcoming weekend at Michigan International Speedway, Allmendinger is set to pull double duty between the Xfinity and Cup Series divisions for the 10th time this season and for his 11th Cup start of the 2024 season. In 22 previous Cup starts at Michigan, Allmendinger’s best results are a pair of 11th-place finishes, which occurred in June 2010 and August 2011. He recorded an Xfinity victory at Michigan in August 2021 with Kaulig Racing in a season where he notched a career-high five victories, made the Championship 4 round and finished in a career-best fourth place in the final drivers’ standings.
With his plans for next season set, AJ Allmendinger’s 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series campaign continues this Saturday, August 17, at Michigan International Speedway for the Cabo Wabo 250, where the event’s broadcast time will commence at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network. Allmendinger will then make his 11th of select Cup starts the following day, August 18, for the FireKeepers Casino 400 that will air at 2:30 p.m. ET on USA Network
