NASCAR at Darlington Aug. - Sept. 2024: Kaulig Racing announcement

we do one and one sit open your too much hi everyone and welcome um I want to introduce Chris Rice president of colag graying racing and Christian eus 2024 regular season champion in the Craftsman Truck Series and Driver of the number 19 Chevy Silverado for maali Hamman racing and I'll let Chris uh tell everybody why we're here well we had Michael Waltrip last week so we thought Carly looked much better than Michael walri this week so sorry Michael um thanks for being back second week in a road for collie Grayson to be able to put some of our news out there and um we would couldn't be more happy to have everyone here from col Ray and our drivers that's in exfinity right now with AJ and Josh Williams in the back very supportive of what we're doing but uh we would love to welcome Christian ekas for a multi-year agreement over the next couple years to the number 16 exfinity car starting in 2025 Christian ekas no clapping thanks appreciate thanks Shane thanks appreciate it um yeah just super excited for this opportunity um this is something that's I feel like it's been a long time coming um and to do it with col racing with Chris Matt um and and so many great teammates as well uh is something that I'm really looking forward to obviously have a lot to achieve this year still but I'm very excited for the future and and yeah just ready to get to work so sorry Matt couldn't be here for the second time but uh W summertime is pretty busy for him and uh we we needed to get this out uh as I was talking about this it's time to get it out Chevy driver we love staying in the Chevy camp uh M and Ali has done an amazing job with their drivers this year um I'm sure Bill's probably like I hope he's proud that I hope he's proud that he you know Daniel D and now Christian ekas and they have championships to run for and we're very respective of that and want to support that as much as we can but we got to get our exfinity cars continuous to get them better so when Christian and Daniel come over in 25 we we've got some speed so good luck AJ Josh yeah any questions and then you guys can get us afterwards too right car yeah we'll open up for questions and then they'll have time for one-on ones afterwards Bob Bob hris P Sports Chris is there a cup ride element to this deal or is it strictly exfinity oh it's strictly exfinity um like I said when we talked about aj his is strictly cup we we had that conversation at Indie um we've done we've made some mistakes by running uh people too many times but uh this is strictly expin to try to get we want to win a championship for Matt colic right like and that that is something that we're very um passionate about and um we definitely want to do it and we know that in Welcome North Carolina we needed to get some speed back and uh I think we're starting to turn a curve there this is all xinity to try to win a championship and and so so we're going to push real hard over the next you know how many other races we got left but moving into 25 and up Beyond could you put could you put Christian in extra expending card this year no but because and and Wayne Alton asked me that and uh we we talked about that but we're very we're very focused on him winning a championship we did not want to mess that up and we feel that with Chevy's help and the simulator and all that stuff that that they can run a lot over the winter and get get real close he will have most than likely have a rookie test I haven't checked into that so we'll hit that up probably in January or February so um and we'll be take one of our exfinity drivers with us so and with us going to Portland and Mexico and all of that it changes up how we got to div up some funds on that side too all right Lee Lee Spencer Ser X NASCAR radio and catch fence.com what particularly was it that you saw in Christian I mean clearly the performance side at at maali has been phenomenal and his maturity since coming into the truck series but what was the spark that you saw in Christian well Austin Craven I mean probably two years ago started talking about Christian and and with Matt colleag we have to say hey this is a guy we looking at and Christian and we talked about this just a little while ago this year has probably matured more than anything but he's fast everywhere he goes whether it's flat whether it's you know banked um he's been fast maali trucks have been fast but he's been super fast I remember um we love the way he took uh controversy I think Atlanta he had a break issue leading and and that was one of the places that he he didn't get out upset he he had a you know had a good conversation about it and then really um we were in Big Time talks at orp and then he he got in a little um I don't I wouldn't even call it a heated discussion but the way he handled it was Matt kic really enjoyed that and we actually AJ came into the motor home and and we talked about that and that was something that was huge so the maturity of Christian but also how fast he can go because you know th those are the things that we need as a company um we we need to have fast race car drivers and fast race cars for the drivers to ride them you know I always say jockey can't ride a slow horse so um no matter how good the jockey is so we we uh we noticed that his maturity was something that we we want to keep in our camp for sure and Christian with all the bouncing around you did in the truck series how thrilled are you just to have the stability of an organization like colleag that is a perennial winner yeah no I'm super excited for that for sure um you know to have for sure you know two back-to-back years is is something that I really haven't had in my career um I think that's that's really why I'm having success this year is because I've been able to to build and grow with the same team back toback years so um that's obviously something that I'm really looking forward to and um yeah I think that's the biggest thing is just to have a little bit of stability to to learn and grow all right our next question will go to Stephen Stephen St fr.com uh Chris with u colag running the part-time 10 car this season is there a possibility we could see Christian in a couple races before is a kind of as a tune up to next year no as I I spoke to Bob there you know we we are very respectful of maali and and that Chevy partnership right they they're big Chevy partner and and we're big Chevy Chevy people if you can't see it it's on my shoulders here um but we we're very uh we don't want him to even think about this until he gets done winning the championship at Phoenix and uh Matt myself ago everybody have some beers with them after he wins on Friday night so um and and we want to just keep that in the Forefront for him to win I know with Justin Haley when we hired Justin Haley we went and watched his championship night uh I think he ran second or third in it or whatever but that's that's our we want to support maali and those guys to be able to win a championship any way we can all right Kelly Kelly crle racer.com Christian why was now the time that you wanted to make a move I guess what went into deciding what next year would look like for you and then why calling yeah I think to answer why colleague is just um the amount of success they've had over the last you know handful of years you know it's a relatively new team um and to succeed the success that they had and and kind of how they go about things just really caught my attention so uh to answer that that's that's kind of it um and it just felt like the right time um you know my truck series career has definitely been uh nothing short of Rocky I've been kind of thrown around a little bit but um just kind of felt like this was the right opportunity the right time to go I finally feel like I'm in a place where I can go so um yeah that's about it all right any final questions okay we'll go in the back to Owen and okay Greg you're good okay all good thank you hey Owen Johnson cup scene.com how much input did AJ have in picking eus talking about the discussion you had in the motor home a lot um I told Christian is coming over here you know even when we we was doing the Josh deal AJ had a lot in that AJ is uh and and I hate to be a broken record but he he's been our guy like he's been our guy that we we didn't have a clue how to win like at zero we um he's a guy that's pushed us to to 28 wins no matter whether it was him SVG Justin Haley Jeb Burton I me it didn't matter it was he's been a guy so when we sat down to talk we I gave him exactly what we were thinking and I said what do you think about this and he was very uh he was very for it he was very he thought it was a good idea he thought that you know I mean AJ has a a beautiful wife and a and young young little boy he's going have to teach how to whether he wants to race or play golf or tennis or whatever he does and he knows it's going to take time over the next little bit and he knows he has has a future with us no matter what he's doing and he's got to go get those cup cars to where they can win so he needed somebody could didn't have to worry about and I think with watching Christian over the last couple of years he's seen that and they a lot alike um you know they didn't come from a lot of money I mean they they came into the sport and they had to dig their way through it as hard as they can and uh I think AJ had noticed that and says look this would be a good fit for you guys along with Daniel D he also said the same thing about him he didn't have much to say early on with Daniel but now he actually everybody in our camp likes Daniel can we expect a fourth car in the Infinity Series for one-off starts for AJ or others no we I mean we've been very clear with AJ we we did that last year and uh two years ago and that was not good we want him to focus solely on the cup cards and we want him to try to get that to where it needs to be um and that that's what's uh that's what's been most important to us like is no more of that if if we can help it now you have it's like he he's got to run some races coming up here towards the end of the year but like if you have Partners or something that really push it but right now there's there's zero talks to have a fourth car for sure all right any final questions all right Chris Christian congratulations again thanks for all you do guys we and guys and girls we appreciate it doesn't go uh unseen and uh we definitely appreciate it and uh hopefully in the near future we we get to release some more stuff so thank you [Music] guys all right there's the checker flag great job driver work