It began with an engine failure and concluded with a storm. At Kansas Speedway, a veteran driver, AJ Allmendinger, did not just park his Chevrolet quietly. He exploded over the radio, unleashing a rant on his engine suppliers so raw that it sent shockwaves through the garage and forced a high-profile intervention.
Suddenly, this just wasn’t another DNF; it was a public crisis involving legends, executives, and the very heartbeat of the entire team. And right in the middle of the chaos stood Richard Childress, called in to contain the fallout, while Kaulig Racing’s Ty Norris made one thing crystal clear: passion wasn’t the problem; they just wanted results.
AJ Allmendinger’s meltdown on the radio wasn’t subtle. As his engine died mid-race at Kansas, he unleashed a string of F-bombs directed at Earnhardt-Childress Racing: “Hey ECR, you guys f—— suck. I mean, what … f— you guys!” The rant was raw, unfiltered, and aimed squarely at ECR engines, and Richard Childress, ECR’s founder, did not take it lightly. But instead of throwing their driver under the bus, Kaulig Racing went in the opposite direction.
Kaulig’s chief business officer, Ty Norris, did not just stand by him; he rallied behind him with rage. In an interview with Alan Cavana, Ty Norris said, “But the great thing about what AJ did was we grabbed him and said, look, don’t back down. If this is how you feel, don’t back down. We have no problems with you having some conversations with our supplier about this.”
However, NASCAR legend Richard Childress wasn’t exactly sympathetic when asked about the outburst and didn’t like the very public “announcement” AJ made. “The 12 [Ryan Blaney] blew up two times [this year]. The 48 [Alex Bowman] blew up [one time]. They never said anything. It’s how you want to run your mouth,” he told NBC Sports. Then, more pointedly, “I just want to know what happened to the engine. When [Allmendinger] jumps out [of the car at Kansas], he don’t even know if the belt come off the oil pump or what.”
Alan Cavana took to X to share Ty Norris’s unrelenting support for AJ, saying, ” After an engine failure at Kansas, AJ Allmendinger keyed the radio for some public, pointed comments directed at ECR. I asked @KauligRacing’s Ty Norris how leadership dealt with the situation and their driver.”
After an engine failure at Kansas, AJ Allmendinger keyed the radio for some public, pointed comments directed at ECR.
I asked @KauligRacing’s Ty Norris how leadership dealt with the situation and their driver.
Interesting answer pic.twitter.com/8QAMlLxE1P
— Alan Cavanna (@AlanCavanna) June 10, 2025
For Norris, the explosion wasn’t a mistake; it was a match. So they didn’t make it any more public; instead, they acted on it. Richard Childress, Norris, and Mike Verlander—all of them sat down with ECR and made it very clear. “Obviously, he didn’t want it to be any more public than we wanted it to be public, but we don’t want him to just shrug his shoulders and act like everything’s okay, because it’s not. It’s too freaking hard. So we’ve sat down, Richard Childress sat down, Mike Verlander, we sat down with Bob and all the guys at the engine shop, and everyone; they put an army on this.”
That wasn’t just empty praise. At the very next race, the grueling Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the results spoke volumes. AJ Allmendinger started strong, securing a top five in stage 1 and a top six in stage 2. He maintained a top-six position throughout the punishing 600-mile distance and ultimately crossed the finish line in fourth place. The dramatic turnaround wasn’t just about speed; it was about resilience and execution as well.
Norris, reflecting on the race, said, ” They put an army on it to make it better. And they just committed continually; they doubled down to commit, regardless of the words, the temper, and the things that happened, to commit to making it better for Kaulig Racing. And our first time back, we go to Charlotte, and we run top six all night, finish top four in a 600-mile race, where engine means a ton, car means a lot, driver means a lot, and decisions and strategy and pit crews.”
While one Kaulig Racing driver ignited controversy with an engine room rant, another found himself at the center of a much furrier fiasco.
Unlike AJ Allmendinger, Ty Dillon’s startling hit in the Heartland
During Stage 2 of the FireKeepers 400 at Michigan last weekend, Ty Dillon’s race took a bizarre turn. As he dove into his pit stall, a squirrel sprinted across the road and was lost. “I think I just murdered a squirrel getting into my pit box,” Dillon radioed in Grimley, as reported by The Athletic’s Jordan Bianchi. Sure enough, the moment was captured and posted by @STaranto92, and NASCAR Twitter went nuts.
Despite the chaos, Dillon’s pit crew remained unfazed. The No. 10 Camero God for fresh tires, no delay. Dillon wrapped up the day in 24th, picking up two points thanks to a 9th-place finish in stage 2. It’s been a tough first full-time Cup season with Kaulig Racing. No top-10s yet. His best? A 12th at Texas.
While his teammate has logged four top 10s, Dillon’s year has been more about bizarre moments than breakout runs.
Yet, the 33-year-old stays optimistic. On SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, he called Kaulig his best shot yet, especially with ECR engines in the picture through the family connection with his grandfather, Richard Childress. The results might not show yet, but Dillon’s betting big on the long game.
But as the team preps for NASCAR’s first-ever Cup Series stop in Mexico City on June 15, fans are hoping Dillon’s next battle is with the leaderboard and not the local wildlife.
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