Kaulig Racing CEO Chris Rice addressed the Daniel Dye situation, days after the young driver was indefinitely suspended by both the team and NASCAR. Following Dye’s controversial comments, Rice urged him to learn from the mistake and move forward.

The situation stemmed from a Whatnot livestream in which Dye spoke about Team Penske IndyCar driver David Malukas, while opening card packs. During the stream, the RAM Truck Series driver used an inappropriate tone to mock Malukas, prompting disciplinary action.

NASCAR penalized him under Section 4.3.C, while Kaulig Racing immediately followed suit. The incident triggered mandatory sensitivity training for Daniel Dye before any potential return. Chris Rice publicly acknowledged both the personal and professional dimensions of the situation.

“First and foremost, Randy (his father, Randy Dye), Daniel, those guys are family to us. And very unfortunate situation that arose this week that we got aware of. There’re protocols and different things that has to happen in NASCAR. We’re in a sport today that we’ve a lot of people that watch us. We’ve a lot of partners that are involved and when that happens, it’s a lot of people you’ve to talk to and figure out what we need to do to move forward.”

Chris Rice pointed to a broader responsibility tied to the sport’s visibility and commercial structure, where teams must balance internal relationships with external expectations. However, he wanted to look ahead.

“One thing about this is that we always learn from our mistakes, including me. I made many, many mistakes over my life, and I probably have not done making mistakes. And we just (get) stronger when we get to the other side of it. So that is the main thing that we have to look at… You look at the NASCAR community and everybody else that we just not, there’s a lot of eyes and ears on us now. A lot of TV cameras, a lot of cameras all around us and we have to really pay attention to what’s going on.”

Daniel Dye, 22, started the 2026 NASCAR Truck Series season with three mid-pack finishes and was 13th in the standings. He made a few starts in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series before the incident halted his campaign.

Kaulig Racing names AJ Allmendinger as replacement for Daniel Dye at Darlington

Kaulig Racing has already confirmed its short-term solution for the No. 10 RAM Truck. They announced earlier in the week:

“AJ Allmendinger will drive the Kaulig Racing No. 10 Truck Friday at Darlington Raceway.”

AJ Allmendinger competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series for Kaulig Racing and now steps into the Truck Series role. He has prior experience across all three national divisions, with his most recent Truck outing coming in 2021. He now pulls double duty at the 1.366-mile track.