The Four P’s of Motorsports Fuel Viking, Jeremy Lange in Pursuit of Excellence

If you look off in the distance on the waters of NASCAR competitiveness, a smaller ship is beginning to loom larger with each passing week.

It’s a relatively new ship, but it has plenty of headwind going in its favor. That would be none other than Viking Motorsports, looking to contrast the status quo of race team relevancy and build a group that is both sustainable and successful.

The Don Sackeet-owned team is still strengthening its legs in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, established in 2024 as a partnership with RSS Racing. In 2025, VMS set sail on its own, fielding a fulll-time entry for Matt DiBenedetto.

While DiBenedetto departed before the conclusion of 2025, the team not only landed rising talent Parker Retzlaff in the off-season to pilot its No. 99 Chevrolet, but also expanded to bring veteran driver Anthony Alfredo aboard its No. 96 entry. On top of that, VMS landed an alliance with Richard Childress Racing, boosting its data and information systems as it continues to grow.

Growth has certainly been on display, as Retzlaff has found a home at VMS to flex his muscles, scoring four top 10s in 10 races, including a runner-up at EchoPark Speedway and sitting 29 points above The Chase cut line, ahead of figures like Ryan Sieg and Sam Mayer.

Frontstretch spoke with VMS General Manager Jeremy Lange to discuss the expansion to two cars, benefits of the RCR alliance, the performance of VMS’ drivers and what the vision is for the team moving forward.

Luken Glover, Frontstretch: You expanded to two cars this season. What made this year the right time to do that?

Jeremy Lange: We purchased the race shop in November, and knowing we’d have the space made it a viable option. Plus, joining the [Richard Childress Racing] alliance provided the opportunity to go from one to two cars. Obviously, we weren’t part of the alliance last year, but it was ownership looking at the opportunity, and we decided it was the right time.

It was always in the cards for Viking Motorsports to be a multi-car team. I think with Kaulig [Racing] leaving the RCR alliance, it provided us with an opportunity to jump in the alliance, and we took advantage of going from one car to two cars so we could solidify our spot in the RCR alliance.

Glover: How much has having that alliance helped [VMS]?

Lange: All credit to our people, and we have built Viking Motorsports, but having the RCR alliance has only expedited the timeline of performance, and having quality people like we have at Viking Motorsports with quality information from the RCR alliance has helped us achieve what we’re achieving right now.

Glover: Take us through that process of what it’s like without the alliance versus having an alliance.

Lange: As a single-car team in 2025, we were a single-car team without an alliance — limited information, limited set-ups, tire information, aero mapping, no simulation, lack of conversation. You could talk to people in the garage, you could have conversations, but do you really know what their doing per se? The alliance gives you information, but it also gives you community to ask questions. I believe the RCR alliance works well for us because I think the best alliance I’ve been a part of — I’ve been a part of some really good alliances — the best alliances in any form of business or professional sports are ones where there’s a two-way street of communication, not one way give-or-take. The RCR alliance that they’ve built is truly a two-way street of communication. We’re a customer of theirs, but at the end of the day, we’re all in the same boat. The more information we can give them which helps them also helps us in the long run.

Glover: Talking about the [No.] 99 and Parker Retzlaff, Parker has been around for a few years […] but it doesn’t feel like fans have opened their eyes to [Retzlaff’s talent] until now. What has allowed him to blossom as a driver, and how has he benefitted your group as a whole?

Lange: I can’t speak enough about Parker, or Anthony [Alfredo] for that matter. [Retzlaff] is mature beyond his years and does not pretend to have all the answers, and he’s a student of racing. The difference this year is I think he’s surrounded by people who are the same people and have the same vision and goal. My take on Parker is people have noticed that Parker has talent and can be fast and show moments of brilliance, but what’s taking notice this year is that the [No.] 99 guys are doing it consistently week in and week out. Every week you turn on the TV, he’s racing — in the past, people say “You were racing 15th, but you finished eighth” — we’re actually racing in the top 15 and finishing in the top 15. We’re dotting our I’s and crossing our T’s, and like I’ve said before, we’re acting as Viking Motorsports and worrying about ourselves, not anyone else.

Danny Efland as the crew chief and that team was put together before the [No.] 96 team came together, so we had the people in place. The [No.] 96 team, just because it’s hard to find people, we finally feel that we’ve gotten the last piece of the puzzle on that team. No excuse, but they’ll be taking a team of five guys that we’ve got to the race track (at Kansas Speedway) and it’ll be the same guys going back-to-back weeks for the first time in a long time. We’ve had moving parts, people leave and not able to find the right people, and we’ve plugged a plan. People stepped up to try to fill the shoes and help out, but we feel we’re on the right path with the guys and the crew on the [No.] 96. My hope and vision is that both cars have the same finishes that the [No.] 99 is having.

Glover: Do you feel like Parker and Anthony have been able to mesh well together and help each other out?

Lange: Yeah, they were teammates in the past at Our Motorsports I believe? So they’re aware of each other, and they are solid teammates in talking to share information. Obviously, they’re racing each other week in and week out, so it’s a little unique in that sense where you have teammates who are working together, but at the same time, competitive on the race track. But they are open books with each other, they work together and they converse afterwards. Our crew chiefs and engineers sit together in one office for a reason so that they can share information.

We don’t have three guys working on the [No.] 99 car, we don’t have three guys on the [No.] 96 car, all the cars are built by the shop employees, which is important to us because it builds camaraderie across the board. Everyone takes ownership of building competitive racecars.

Glover: I’ve heard Parker talk a little about The Chase. [He’s] currently ninth in points (11th at the time of publication). Has that exceeded expectations, or is that something you as a group pinpointed?

Lange: So, to be fair, we had a goal going into the year, and the goal was to be more competitive and finish in the top 20, realistically. I’d say our goals were to finish the races, finish on the lead lap, be in the top 15 or 20 week in and week out, and our stretch goal was to achieve playoff status. Sitting 11th right now in points, if you had told me this in December — this is no discredit to our team — I would tell you that would be way beyond our dreams. Now, my ownership would tell you they saw this, which is great.

But realistically, when I say punching outside our weight class, we are ahead of cars that, theoretically, we should not be ahead of, just based on history. But I think the combination of Danny, Parker, information and Doug Hammel, the spotter, has, I don’t want to use the cliche of lightning in a bottle, but we’ve caught a little bit of lightning in a bottle. Now we’re at a point where what I don’t want to happen is people expect us to be in the top 10 every week, and when we’re not, they stop talking about us. That’s not fair to Parker or the guys because we’re beating or racing cars that have been around longer than us. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be able to do it. We have good people in the shop, good people in the cars […] that stuff adds up to the entire Viking Motorsports team is doing what they should be doing to make these cars competitive.

Glover: Last year, we talked about the vision and not hitting the home runs necessarily, but getting the base hits. What’s the next base hit for Viking Motorsports?

Lange: I think the next thing for us is consistency. The next thing is getting the [No.] 96 where the [No.] 99 is, clearly, and then leveraging all of this to attract partners. At the end of the day, it’s great if you run in the top 10, but if it doesn’t help solidify what you’re trying to do, it’s still pushing a boulder up a hill, right? Maintaining the [No.] 99 where it is, being consistent with that, which Parker’s great at. The [No.] 96 is getting it to finish where it’s racing. And then, how do we capitalize upon that to attract and bring partners to the sport that we all love?

Unfortunately, sports are “What have you done for me today, not yesterday.” I joke with my kids about this, they’ll be like, “Oh man, you finished ninth.” I’m like, “Yeah, the good news is that I’ve got to do it all again next week.” It’s also the bad news though, we’ve got to do it all over again next week. But we have some great partners in Dude Wipes, FunkAway, Ohio Logistics, and I’m at a conference right now for VaVia. We have some great partners for both cars. Our vision is by bringing people to the race track, we believe that when they experience what this sport has to offer, the more people will see value in it. Not just in Viking Motorsports, but in the entire series and the entire sport.

The CW has done a great job of being a broadcast partner, so everyone knows where to watch the O’Reilly Auto Parts races, which is great, and our partners — the four p’s of motorsports are people, processes, procedures and partners — the partners are what will allow us to do what we do. Without FunkAway, Dude Wipes, VaVia, Ohio Logistics and all these guys that help fund what we do, we wouldn’t be doing what we’re doing.