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Kaulig Racing has announced that AJ Allmendinger will be the full-time driver for the No.16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet in the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series.
Fans, however, were left puzzled after Kaulig Racing's announcement. Earlier this year, according to Fox's Bob Pockrass, Ty Dillon was considered the favorite for the No.16 Chevy.
Dillion was driving for Spire Motorsport in the 2023 season, but his No.77 Chevrolet has now been assigned to Carson Hocevar for the 2024 season. According to the team announcement, Allmendinger, who only won one race with Kaulig Racing while racing full-time in the Cup Series, will now return as a full-time driver with the team.
Several fans took to social media to show their disappointment with the team's decision. One user tweeted:
"Depending who is taking over the cup car, this doesn’t make sense to me. Seems like the cup program is going backwards."
Others added:
Allmendinger will be joined by Josh Williams, who is set to drive the No. 11 Chevy for Kaulig Racing. Allmendinger will participate in both Cup Series and Xfinity Series next season, according to the team.
Looking back at AJ Allmendinger's 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season
AJ Allmendinger and Kaulig Racing produced some positive results for the team in 2023. Although Allmendinger was unable to qualify for the 2023 Playoff season, he registesred one win, four top-five finishes, and seven top-ten finishes in 2023, which placed him 21st in the points standings with 692 points.
It was, nevertheless, an underwhelming return to the Cup Series. Allmendinger, 41, won his only race of the 2023 season at the Charlotte Roval 400.
'The Dinger' is now set to return as a full-time Xfinity driver for Kaulig Racing, the team that rekindled his career after signing him in 2019 for a part-time Xfinity Series schedule while he was working as a motorsport analyst.
AJ Allmendinger has won 17 Xfinity Series races in total, 15 of which have come while he was with the North Carolina-based team. His previous two Xfinity wins were with Team Penske.
