NASCAR rewards drivers who stick around and keep showing up. Not the flashy ones who burn out after a few good seasons. AJ Allmendinger has built his whole career on exactly that kind of consistency. And Kaulig Racing CEO Chris Rice just confirmed he’s not letting him leave. He also let slip exactly why.

Building a Case Beyond the Numbers for the NASCAR Hall of Fame

“Our number one goal is to try to get him into the Hall of Fame. I feel like AJ is that guy who gets overlooked a lot. He’s been in this sport—I think next week will be his 500th start. He looks at it like, ‘Man, my career has been slow for 500 starts.’ I look at it as, ‘You were able to stay in the sport that long,'” Chris Rice told Frontstretch.

Allmendinger’s deal with Kaulig now runs all the way through 2032, squashing several speculations about his future.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Allmendinger said. “According to Chris, I’ve got a contract ’til like 2032, so I’m not going anywhere. I’m here for life in one way or another.”

Look at the numbers, and the case writes itself. On road courses and street tracks, Allmendinger holds an average finish of 15.35, and every single Cup win he’s got came on a track with right turns. Short tracks are bumpier territory, as he sits at 20.5, though he did once steal a pole at Bristol that nobody saw coming. At Intermediate and large oval tracks, his average finish again comes around 20. Even Daytona hasn’t beaten him down, finishing third thrice, and he never even started better than 20th to get there.

These stats might not seem too flashy, but the longevity and volume make a serious argument. He has 498 career Cup Series starts across 19 seasons (2006–2026, still active), 131 Xfinity starts, 89 Cup top-10s, 86 Xfinity top-10s, 57 Xfinity top-5s, 5 Cup poles, and 11 Xfinity poles. He also holds the NASCAR Xfinity Series record for most road-course wins, breaking the previous record held by Austin Cindric, with 1,527 total laps led in the series, plus two regular-season titles, back-to-back in ’21 and ’22.

But there’s exactly one thing missing from the résumé: a Truck Series win. Rice says they’ve actually sat down and talked about chasing it.

“He’s won in Cup, he’s won in Xfinity, and I think he’s won in ARCA,” Rice said. “He’s won in everything but the trucks.”

And it’s not like he hasn’t tried. Allmendinger’s truck debut goes all the way back to 2006, where he had a fifth-place finish at Talladega – only his second start ever. More recently, running a handful of Kaulig truck races, he snagged a top-10 at Watkins Glen, his first since 2007. But he’s not really chasing trophies down there. He’s using those races to scout the track, then taking what he learns straight into his Cup car later that weekend.

One wrinkle, though. Rice admits Allmendinger doesn’t love speedways, which is exactly why Kaulig hasn’t gone all-in on a full truck schedule. They’re after one clean shot at a win, not a whole season of them.

Moreover, AJ Allmendinger already made the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame back in 2025, joining a list with names like Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Rick Mears. Voters dug into his whole career, his Champ Car Rookie of the Year run in 2004, and an outright win at the Rolex 24 in 2012.

Add it all up, and Rice’s plan comes into focus. That truck win? Just the last brick.