No matter if it is a road course, short track or superspeedway, every race team in NASCAR at each level is trying to see one of their cars cross the finish line first on race day.
However, what exactly does it take to cross the finish line, rip up the track with the victory lap and hoist that always-sacred trophy, no matter the track or race?
NASCAR Studios is giving fans a behind-the-scenes look at how that is done in “Trophy Hunting with Kaulig Racig,” following the young-and-hungry team throughout the Xfinity Series with owner Matt Kaulig, team president Chris Rice and their three drivers: AJ Allmendinger, Shane van Gisbergen and Josh Williams.
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Fox News Digital was able to preview the first two episodes of the series, which will debut on NASCAR’s YouTube channel at 6 p.m. ET on Monday and will air each week on the same day through Sept. 16. It is clear NASCAR and the Kaulig Racing team wanted to showcase the raw passion and emotions that come with the ups and downs of “hunting trophies,” which is a slogan Kaulig Racing lives by thanks to its owner.
“So, I was, as a sponsor, wanting to go faster and get more exposure,” Kaulig, executive chairman of Kaulig Companies Limited, explained. “Then, I love it, so I got the bug, so to speak, and just started loving the competition. And then, just like in business, you try to figure out, ‘All right, how do we go faster?’ It seemed like I was going to have to start my own team in order to do that.”
Kaulig Racing was founded in 2016, and what was a hobby, turned into a passion for its owner. However, the Northeast Ohio native did not make his own race team to simply sit in the back of the pack and collect participation trophies.
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He wants to beat the rest of the cars out on the track each week during the season, and that is what he believes the docuseries will show race fans.
“We’re not going to just have a team where we’re running around the back and we’re running a couple laps down,” he said. “That’s not going to be fun long-term. So, how do we hunt trophies? We’re going to trophy hunt. We’re not out here just to run around the track. We’re out here to get trophies.”
Kaulig, being a former football player for the University of Akron, knows how much a great team is paramount, no matter the sport. It was why he called up Rice to join the squad. In the first episode of “Trophy Hunting,” Rice even admits that he had to ask again who was calling him that wanted him to lead his new race team on the track as crew chief.
Rice, the NASCAR lifer who was on a racetrack with his family when he was a toddler in South Boston, Virginia, came aboard as crew chief in 2016 and ultimately assumed the role of president in 2018.
It was then when Rice told Fox News Digital that he saw a different side of what running a race team was like.
“Before I met Matt, we did nothing like that. I just it was work, work, work,” Rice said. “Get all you can get, be at the race shop, do this, do that. But when I met Matt, he taught me about team building. How do you team build? How do you get the most out of people?”
Team camaraderie is different in motorsports, as every driver wants to be the one in victory lane when a race ends. However, that always means beating your teammates in the end.
Still, as Kauling puts it, “a Kaulig Racing car has to win.” So, building a solid team and getting them acclimated off the track is something Kaulig loves to do, which shows when the squad hits the golf links to kick off the series.
“Doing those things are very key to keep the guys and girls understanding that we are a family,” Rice said. “This is business, this is hard, and we have to run with it. We have to win trophies. …The easiest way I can describe Matt Kaulig is you work hard, you play hard. But you always thinking about how you can win. No matter if you’re playing, working – no matter which you’re doing – how can you win? How can you get to the next level?”
Allmendinger, someone Rice said should be in the NASCAR Hall of Fame one day due to his 11 road course wins over his career thus far, loves to compete against himself on the golf course because he gives his 110% in to everything that challenges him.
That personality can be seen in the first two episodes, as Kaulig and Rice alike speak of how Allmendinger is the anchor of the race team. The first episode also shows how team camaraderie can take a turn when Allmendinger and van Gisbergen are both vying for victory.
Sometimes, the drive to win can hurt the team in the end, which is a reality NASCAR fans will get to see first-hand in the first race at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas.
Without spoiling the debut for all NASCAR fans out there, Allmendinger and van Gisbergen were having a great race, but the ending was less than ideal, leading to some frustration.
“After COTA, I had a conversation with A.J. It didn’t go real well,” Rice said with a smile. “We probably spent the next couple of road courses fighting that a little bit, and AJ kinda struggled at Portland, struggled at Sonoma. But after Sonoma, we finally got that fixed. And he went to Chicago and actually was going to have a really good race.”
Allmendinger added, “It’s a tough thing because you want the team to win, but as a driver sometimes, it’s, ‘Well, I want to be the guy winning.’ If you’re not, you’re happy for the team, but sometimes it’s difficult with that maybe you’re not the one winning. That hurts the ego and that’s frustrating. This year, I’ve been on the other side of it where I haven’t won. But, over the last five years, I’ve been primarily on the other side of it where I’m the one winning for the team.”
The docuseries gets into the nitty-gritty of what happens during races, how one mistake – sometimes not of your own doing – can be the difference between finishing first or 25th.
It is not just the drivers, either. Mistakes from the crew, just one, can be a fireable offense, as seen in the second episode when Rice has to can a crew member.
“They need to see them all. I don’t think that one’s going to be as good as the one at New Hampshire,” he said.
While the seriousness on race day will be on full display, the personalities of drivers like Williams, another man like Rice who lives and breathes racecars, are there for fans to understand more.
At Talladega, Williams, a man who Kaulig Racing told to drop 25 pounds or chop his mullet off and return at a satisfactory weight before joining the team, was seen judging a mullet contest before racing.
“I think a lot of fans they enjoy hanging out with me because I’m the same all the time,” he said. “Whether they run into me at Walmart somewhere, or they see me at the racetrack, they’re going to get the same person. I think that’s pretty cool to showcase, and show people that we have fun, too.
“Me, A.J., SVG, Chris, Matt, everybody at Kaulig, we’re all our own individual personalities. So, it’s cool for the fans to experience that from each one of us, and maybe get to know us all just a little bit better.”
That is the goal with this docuseries: getting to understand the individuals, from owner to drivers, while getting an all-access pass to the trials and tribulations of hunting trophies in NASCAR’s Xfinity Series, which has notoriously been known as the place where names are made.
Kaulig Racing is a young team compared to the other race teams known throughout the country, but what Kaulig and his squad of determined colleagues are showing is that they want to build their story and legacy, both individually and as a team, just like the rest every time they touch the track.
“The docuseries, it’s really important and just cool. It’s entertainment,” Kaulig said. “…If somebody just sees it, and makes fans from it, then that goes a long way.”
Rice added, “I think for the documentary, what they need to understand is we’re serious. It’s not like a joke. We’re serious to go win races and we’re serious about what we’re doing.
“We’re all going to look back on what Matt did when he came into NASCAR, and I think that shows that, hey, this guy out of Northeast Ohio came into NASCAR and figured out how to win races. He figured it out.”
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