NASCAR Cup Series crew chief admits team 'missing a lot' compared to 2025

A NASCAR Cup Series crew chief has revealed the team is 'missing a lot' in terms of data having made a huge decision ahead of the 2026 season.

In 2025, and for some time previous, Kaulig Racing ran in the Cup and Xfinity (Now O'Reilly Auto Parts) Series, partnering with Chevrolet as their manufacturer.

Back in August, however, the team confirmed that they would be expanding their operations into the Truck Series. Crucially, they will be partnering with Ram and not Chevrolet as they embark on this endeavour.

Kaulig Racing facing Ram consequences

Whilst the above is very exciting for the team in one regard, it has had consequences on their operations in the Cup Series (and presumably O'Reilly Auto Parts Series), according to Trent Owens.

Owens is the crew chief of AJ Allmendinger and the No. 16 Chevrolet at Kaulig Racing, which competes full-time in the Cup Series, and he admits that in terms of data, the team is lacking compared to 2025 due to certain information not flowing their way this time around.

“A lot of those channels are definitely turned off,” Owens admitted on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

“There’s some things you just have to get from Chevrolet to run a Chevrolet car, which we still are, and we’re proud to run Chevrolet. We've had a good experience and good relationships with all that.

“I think when I speak mainly it's [that] the manufacturers provide a lot of the simulator time and the simulation tools.

"NASCAR has things set up with each manufacturer now where a lot of data gets processed through those channels, some of that we’re privy to and some of it we’re not.

"We’re certainly missing a lot from what we had last year.”

Owens excited about Kaulig direction

Whilst the above undoubtedly puts the team at a disadvantage compared to if they did have the extra data, Owens looks on things from a positive viewpoint.

Whilst it may be a headache at times, he admits, it's also going to be fun and exciting for the team to have to knuckle down and make the right decisions.

“We’ve just got to go out and try to put our hands together and be smart and build what we can and try to make good decisions,” Owen added.

“It might be a headache at times, but it's also going to be fun to build something, you know, be a part of something starting out, that could be something really big in years to come.

"I'm excited about where we're headed."