Making their Cup Series debut at Daytona in 2020, Kaulig Racing is one of the newer teams on the NASCAR Cup Series grid in 2023. But when we talk about NASCAR’s winningest team, Hendrick Motorsports, it goes back to 1986, when Geoff Bodine won the first Daytona race for the team. Owned by Matt Kaulig, the team also runs in the Xfinity Series, having won more than 23 races. Things have not gone as smoothly in the Cup Series. They don’t have any of their full-time drivers in the 2023 playoffs, but what they do have is one of the brightest prospects in NASCAR today.

Matt Kaulig’s team is one of the newer teams in the Cup Series and has yet to make a mark in the competition so far. In three years, they’ve only recorded one win in the competition. Getting all of their full-time drivers into the playoffs seems like a distant dream at the moment, but there have been moments when the team has pulled off some memorable results, especially with their veteran racer, AJ Allmendinger. 

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But Allmendinger’s days in NASCAR are numbered. The driver of the #16 is 41 years old and is nearing the twilight years of his career. Kaulig Racing’s future depends on the shoulder of the driver of the #31, Justin Haley, who, according to Dale Earnhardt Jr., has been hard done by a current Hendrick Motorsports driver.

On the Dale Jr. Download podcast, Junior recently had Justin Haley with him, and the two spoke about what happened in the Xfinity Series race at Daytona in 2018. According to the 48-year-old, Haley’s big moment was taken away from him by none other than 2021 Cup Series champion Kyle Larson.

The Xfinity Series race at Daytona in 2018 had a controversial ending. In the closing stages of the race, Haley took to the inside and overtook Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson for the lead of the race, holding it until the checkered flag. However, the then-GMS Racing driver was disqualified as he made the move after crossing the yellow line on the inside of the track, as a result of which he dropped to 18th place, and Larson was announced the winner.

The NASCAR world was split on the decision at the time and Dale Earnhardt Jr. did not make any attempt to hide which side of the fence he was on.

“Well, so the thing is, the way I felt about in the moment was like man that was his moment to thrust himself onto the main stage of the industry and be like, “Hey! Look at me,” right? And it was just taken from you…I think everybody in that moment was sitting there going, “Man, that’s some bull****, you know?” the former Cup Series driver said.

It was a disappointing moment for Haley himself who would have made a huge impact had he won at Daytona at a time when he was only 18 or 19 years old. But the Kaulig Racing driver said that he just did not know enough about the intricacies of the rules at the time.

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When asked if the incident still bothered him, Justin Haley said that he tried to separate himself from it, but admitted that it still was a painful memory.

“No, I mean like I said, I separate myself from it. I mean it definitely sucks. It’s tough. I mean it was like my second or third start, I mean, what was I even doing out there,” he said.

The driver of the #31 then said that at the time, he did not realize that he was making an illegal move and attributed his failure to finish high up in the race to a lack of knowledge.

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“Well honestly, I thought the whole car had to be below the line. So when I made the move, you know, I thought it was fine. I mean it was literally four inches of my car of just the left side below the line. So yeah, I mean, I guess I didn’t know enough but I thought it was more like, you really had to go below the line,” he added.

Justin Haley’s 2023 Cup Series campaign has all but come to an end. He has not made it into the playoffs and Kaulig Racing isn’t one of the more competitive teams in the Cup. Justin and the No. 31 team will focus on getting their car up to speed and competitive for 2024, which will be an important season for the 24-year-old.