Kaulig Racing Becomes Ram’s First Step Toward A NASCAR Cup Return

Dodge—sorry, Ram—has taken another very loud, very public step on its NASCAR comeback trail. And this one is less “quiet shuffle into the room” and more “kick the door off the hinges.”

Kaulig Racing announced Saturday that it will field Ram-branded entries in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series starting in 2026. And not just one or two trucks, mind you. The plan is for five. Yes, five trucks, which in NASCAR terms is less of a cautious trial balloon and more of a cannonball off the high dive into the deep end.

Of course, lawyers being lawyers, the official statement did slip in the phrase “up to five.” But if history tells us anything about Kaulig Racing, it’s that they don’t exactly do things small.

“This partnership represents far more than a new chapter in Kaulig Racing’s history, it’s a union of shared values,” said Matt Kaulig, owner of Kaulig Racing. “Over the past decade, our team has built a legacy rooted in performance, integrity, and giving back to the community.”

For Ram, this move makes Kaulig Racing the anchor point for its official NASCAR return. When the brand made its splashy announcement back in June, we knew they were going truck racing, but the “where” and “with whom” were missing pieces of the puzzle. Now we know: not just a truck, but a fleet of them under Kaulig’s expanding umbrella.

Kaulig already fields teams in both the Cup and Xfinity Series. Adding Ram to its operations means the organization will now stretch across all three of NASCAR’s top national series, becoming one of the sport’s most versatile and ambitious programs. Ten years ago, no one would have pegged Kaulig as the shop pulling Dodge—through its Ram brand—back toward the spotlight.

But make no mistake: this isn’t the final destination. It’s not even a full circle. It’s the next step in a climb back to where Dodge left off in 2012, when it pulled out of the Cup Series and left Chevrolet, Ford, and Toyota to divvy up the spoils. If Ram is serious about eventually getting a Dodge-badged Cup car back on the grid, this is how you do it—start with trucks, learn the new landscape, and then move up.

ForbesRam Is NASCAR Racing Again While Dodge Is Still Stuck In A Group ChatBy Greg Engle

Kaulig insists the truck program will operate separately from its Cup and Xfinity efforts. But everyone in the garage knows this is about more than adding another series to the roster. For Ram, this is reconnaissance. A training exercise. A way to learn how modern NASCAR teams work, what the technology requires, and how to gear up for the big leagues.

“Yeah, I absolutely think that it is,” said Nate Buelow, senior vice president with Ram. “We’ve got a lot of work to do to get five trucks on the track for next year and a lot of learning.

“It’s been a long time since, we’ll just call it a Mopar vehicle, was running on NASCAR tracks officially. But part of the process, right, (is) to learn to get there and (we have) every intention of getting back to Cup and running a Dodge on track.”

That’s the money quote. Read between the lines, and you see the bigger picture: trucks are the proving ground, but Cup is the ultimate goal.

“I think aspirationally for us, and Tim Kuniskis (CEO of Ram), my boss has said we have every intention to get back to Cup,” Buelow added. “That’s where everybody wants to be. We’ve got to get our trucks figured out first and then start to think about how we do Cup.”

If this all comes together, Dodge’s absence from NASCAR’s top level will have been just a long intermission. Ram may be the one putting trucks on the track, but Dodge is clearly the headliner waiting in the wings.

And when they do come back, you can bet NASCAR executives won’t just be fine with it—they’ll probably be standing at the start/finish line with open arms and a red carpet.