What do you make of Kaulig Racing’s 2025 driver lineup?
Luken Glover: Kaulig’s decision might be beneficial in the short term, but it is lacking overall. Ty Dillon has competed with two other Chevrolet teams in the NASCAR Cup Series in recent years, and we saw his teammates benefit because of boosted support from Richard Childress Racing. Kaulig will have AJ Allmendinger in the No. 16 next year, and his performance should strengthen from added resources. However, is it really worth it for one car to run a few positions better, while the other runs at the back of the field? It’s no disrespect toward Dillon, but the results haven’t been there.
Allmendinger isn’t getting younger, and his performance has dipped this season. The only other realistic option for the team’s future is its new NASCAR Xfinity Series driver, Christian Eckes, who is on the short list for many top teams down the road. Additionally, Daniel Hemric has been running solidly recently given where the team is at, so I’m uncertain it was the right move to release him. If Allmendinger fails to make the playoffs next year and Dillon runs at the back, it won’t be healthy for the team long-term.
Amy Henderson: Allmendinger is a good call. He’s a veteran with Cup experience who will contend on road courses and superspeedways and have consistency on ovals. He’s not getting any younger, but he buys the team a year or two to bring a youngster like Eckes along. He’s solid, and the team needs that. Dillon is probably not going to set the world on fire (or finish in the top 25 in points), but Kaulig isn’t the first team with a RCR connection to take him in exchange for better equipment or information. Richard Childress has been much more willing to put his younger grandson in someone else’s car than one of his own.
Kevin Nix: In both the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity series, Kaulig’s lineup is not terrible, with potential for high upside. More significant than hiring Dillon is the RCR support that his hiring now brings to the operation. With this increased support, Allmendinger could conceivably win a road course in his return to the series, so there is a pathway to the playoffs that was not there this year. Eckes shows the highest upside in Kaulig’s Xfinity lineup. A win and a playoff berth are in the cards for him in 2025. Don’t expect Daniel Dye and Josh Williams to compete for a playoff spot, but stranger things have happened.
James Krause: It’s a bit of a head scratcher. Allmendinger being back in the Cup Series isn’t a shocker from a talent perspective, but it was strange that he went back to Xfinity for a year while Hemric stayed in Cup. Then there’s Dillon. Even in his sporadic Cup and Xfinity starts — plus this season with Rackley WAR in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series — he hasn’t done anything to make him stand out as a lock for a Cup ride. The team likely wanted to opt for experienced drivers in its lineup while the company searches for better future security under Ty Norris.
To what do you attribute the uptick in Kyle Busch’s performance?
Nix: Confidence and the streak. His top motivator after he missed the playoffs is to continue his streak of winning one race per season, and that would extend to 20 if he could win one of these last six races. RCR has also improved as a whole over the last month and change, so it’s fair to say the improvements are not luck-based. Plus, he’s always run better when he has confidence, and he’s got it in spades right now. Kyle Busch doesn’t luck into two runner-up finishes in a row, and he had a shot to win before his late-race spin at Kansas Speedway. He wants to win badly, and it’s showing in the results.
Henderson: RCR has improved somewhat in the second half, and Busch has figured out how to carry his equipment even further. He’s better than the cars he drives. Busch can still get it done — he might be a year or two past his prime, but if there’s an iota of speed anywhere in a car if he can stay calm and not overreact, he will find it and use it. RCR may have mid-tier equipment, but the team has a history of having drivers who can find more than they should in those cars.
Krause: RCR as an organization has been bringing better cars to the track since the Olympic break. Busch had some solid runs before that two-week layoff but typically got caught up in something battling around the top 10. Now he’s a threat to win again, but it’s not just him showing improvement. Austin Dillon’s win at Richmond Raceway may have come under dubious circumstances, but he had the speed. Dillon had six top-20 runs before the Olympic break and has had five since.
Glover: The Olympic break appears to be the turning point for this race team. Despite the controversy surrounding it now, Dillon had a winning car at Richmond Raceway. Busch has been even more impressive, finishing worse than 12th only twice since the break. It allowed the team to reset, invest in deeper infrastructure and really focus on what the goal is: extending Busch’s win streak. The chemistry between Busch and crew chief Randall Burnett finally seems to be connecting, and that will serve them well for the remainder of the season and into 2025.
Who will have a better 2025 at JR Motorsports: Carson Kvapil or Connor Zilisch?
Henderson: That’s a really hard question because Connor Zilisch is so ridiculously talented that he could absolutely be a title contender next year in the Xfinity Series, but Carson Kvapil can certainly hold his own and has a little more experience on his side. I’m going to say they both make the playoffs and Kvapil maybe goes a little deeper in the postseason.
Glover: These are going to be two talented, exciting drivers with vastly different skill sets concerning their backgrounds. Kvapil comes from an established, successful short track upbringing, while Zilisch has already become a road course ace, sealed by winning his Xfinity debut at Watkins Glen International. The equalizer will be high-speed ovals, something both drivers have proven they can perform at despite limited starts. I give Zilisch the edge just because of his strength on road courses, but both will have highly anticipated arrivals.
Krause: Zilisch is going to replace Shane van Gisbergen as the betting favorite at every road course. On top of that, he’s also really good at ovals. Kvapil will be solid and potentially more consistent with his experience to rely on, but Zilisch feels like a slam-dunk pick to win at least three or four races.
Nix: Zilisch. Kvapil is a great racecar driver, but Zilisch is a generational talent. He won in his debut and finished fourth in his first large oval start at Kansas Speedway. The biggest thing that could change this is how Zilisch responds to adversity, as he’s had very little of it so far. Kvapil has kept a level head when he’s struggled, which goes in his favor. Both drivers will be in the playoffs, but it’s hard not to point to Zilisch as a championship contender off the bat.
Is Layne Riggs a 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series title contender?
Krause: Yes. I thought coming into this year he’d be in the playoffs given his proficiency at short tracks and Front Row Motorsports’ performances in recent years with Todd Gilliland and Zane Smith. The team just couldn’t get any good runs together early in the season and didn’t break through with a win in time for the playoffs. If FRM sticks with what it’s got, Layne Riggs will be among the favorites for the title.
Glover: Absolutely. Riggs has been on my radar since he made his first three career Truck starts in 2022, and despite a rocky start to a season with high expectations, he is racing relaxed now. A large bulk of the schedule consists of short tracks, Riggs’ bread and butter. He’s proven he can win on those now, winning back to back at The Milwaukee Mile and Bristol Motor Speedway. But like other short track aces, the question lies in whether he can compete on other track types. Well, Riggs finished second at Kansas to earn his fifth-consecutive top five. Now that he has the monkey off his back by winning, he is going to be dangerous next season with a team that holds a championship pedigree.
Nix: Yes. Eckes is moving up to the NXS so someone will need to take his place against Corey Heim. While Heim is the favorite, Riggs’ hot stretch has shown people he is ready for the big moment, and he is a fearsome driver when he has confidence. Year two with Front Row, especially when the team’s Cup lineup will be squared away and the team will be more stable, has the sky as the limit.
Henderson: Absolutely. Learning to win in a series takes a little time, but once a driver figures out how to race up front consistently, the wins will come. Riggs showed that this year. His first half of 2024 showed a few holes in both driver and team, and they went to work on plugging them. Now that they know how to win, they need to put it together with consistency in 2025. It’s been fun seeing him develop into a legit threat.
Luken Glover joined the Frontstretch team in 2020 as a contributor, furthering a love for racing that traces back to his earliest memories. Glover inherited his passion for racing from his grandfather, who used to help former NASCAR team owner Junie Donlavey in his Richmond, Va. garage. A 2023 graduate from the University of the Cumberlands, Glover is the author of "The Underdog House," contributes to commentary pieces, and does occasional at-track reporting. Additionally, Glover enjoys working in ministry, coaching basketball, playing sports, and karting.
Kevin Nix has been with Frontstretch since February 2023. Hailing from Gilbert, Arizona, his dream is to be in the NASCAR media sphere full-time. He is a video assistant, working on the back end to streamline video and audio quality of all at-track interviews. Nix also writes about news every Monday for the site.
Nix graduated with a Master's Degree in Sports Journalism from ASU's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in Phoenix, Arizona. He also has bachelor's degrees in Communications and Political Science. In his downtime, he likes to read, play video games and take walks in the Arizona weather - when it's not too hot.
Amy is an 20-year veteran NASCAR writer and a six-time National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) writing award winner, including first place awards for both columns and race coverage. As well as serving as Photo Editor, Amy writes The Big 6 (Mondays) after every NASCAR Cup Series race. She can also be found working on her bi-weekly columns Holding A Pretty Wheel (Tuesdays) and Only Yesterday (Wednesdays). A New Hampshire native whose heart is in North Carolina, Amy’s work credits have extended everywhere from driver Kenny Wallace’s website to Athlon Sports. She can also be heard weekly as a panelist on the Hard Left Turn podcast that can be found on AccessWDUN.com's Around the Track page.
James Krause joined Frontstretch in March 2024 as a contributor. Krause was born and raised in Illinois and graduated from Northern Illinois University. He currently works in La Crosse, Wisconsin as a local sports reporter, including local short track racing. Outside of racing, Krause loves to keep up with football, music, anime and video games.