I found this really surprising, Justin has had a really solid season this year, he’s kept up largely with AJ and is distantly in the conversation for the final transfer spots in the playoffs. I really thought he would have been re-signed.
Could just be as simple as Kaulig balking at paying Justin a fair wage when they have the likely much cheaper Chandler Smith waiting, and Rick Ware having surprisingly deep pockets if you consider his diverse portfolio of race teams now. However, you got rumors SVG wants to move to NASCAR as soon as next year, through Kaulig’s close RCR relationship you got Austin Hill and Brodie Kostecki, this seat could be a have a lot of potential suitors sniffing around it.
The other question I guess is what promises Rick Ware made to Haley about improving that team in the longterm for him to sign a multi-year contract rather than just a one off hoping something better (like almost any other team) comes open?
I saw a rumor from about 2 months ago saying that Chris Rice was hoping to have Haley back pending sponsorship. No idea how much truth there were to those, but I guess it’s possible the sponsorship didn’t work out the way they expected.
As for what Rick Ware could offer, based on Haley’s quote, I can only guess he sees something in the alliance with RFK that no one else is seeing. Or maybe he just decided to take whatever job security he could get.
I was equally as surprised. I watched Eric’s video (Out of the Groove) and he brings up an interesting snip-it in regards to Haley’s uncle owning a charter. Curious if RWR /RFK are gaining said charter? If so, does Kaulig go down to being a single car team next year?
Assuming I’m reading this chart correctly, Kaulig purchased both of its charters in '22, including the one owned by Haley’s uncle, so they should still own both.
Bob Pockrass on the birdsite debunked the theory that Todd Braun owns the other Kaulig Charter, he said to the best of anybody’s knowledge both charters are at least majority in Matt Kaulig’s control.
Rather, he said for a couple months now despite never reported it has been kind of of an open secret in the garage that Austin Hill is the favorite for the 2nd Kaulig car cause his loyal sponsors plan on coming with him and Kaulig wants to self-sponsor the 31 less.
