NASCAR’s Viking Motorsports had no business finishing fourth and fifth at Sonoma in the O’Reilly series. In just its third season, the team was racing against the likes of JR Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing on one of the most technical road courses on the schedule.
Anthony Alfredo crossed the line fourth. Parker Retzlaff grabbed fifth right behind him. During a Dirty Mo Media panel, someone noticed Chris Rice sitting there with a slight smile on his face.
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“They might be some of our old cars,” Rice said. “Those are the two cars A.J. Allmendinger won about six races in. Those are still good race cars.”
Rice had his guy, Lennie Chandler, check the chassis numbers to confirm it mid-conversation. The cars that just went fourth and fifth at Sonoma started life at Kaulig Racing. Viking bought roughly 20 of them in the offseason, along with a mountain of support equipment.
“It makes me feel good that we were able to sell something, and it was able to work for them,” Rice said. “That’s why I’m grinning, laughing, and winking.”
The NASCAR cars are only half of it. When Kaulig restructured ahead of 2026, they also backed away from their technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing. Viking walked straight into that opening: RCR data, ECR engines, the whole package. For a small team, that is a massive leg up.
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Getting to Chevrolet in the first place was not smooth. Viking ran Ford in 2024 through a partnership with RSS Racing. Then, ahead of the new season, they got quoted $1.3 million for a technical alliance through Ford’s partner network. Owner Don Sackett looked at what that bought and said no. The support was not worth the price. They cut ties with Ford, called Chevrolet, absorbed Kaulig’s fleet, and plugged into RCR. Sonoma was the result.
There is a funny thread running through all of this. Before Viking was Viking, Matt DiBenedetto had been lined up for a Kaulig Cup deal. A sponsor pulled out. The deal died. DiBenedetto ended up at Viking instead, laying the groundwork for everything that followed. Kaulig’s fingerprints have been on this team from day one.
Rice also put in a word for Retzlaff, who sits ninth in the NASCAR Xfinity points right now.
“Parker’s a good little racer, and hopefully he gets a really good opportunity,” he said.
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The NASCAR Manufacturer They Left Behind Is In Real Trouble
Halfway through the Cup season, 18 races in, Ford has one win on the board. Ryan Blaney at Phoenix in March. That is it. One win across the entire manufacturer in half a season.
At Team Penske, it is getting urgent. Joey Logano is 20th in points, sitting 31 below the Chase cutline with eight races left. Austin Cindric is in 16th. Blaney is locked in but has watched mechanical failures and slow pit stops throw away results he should have had.
Part of the problem is that Ford is already building next year’s car. The new Mustang Dark Horse body for 2027 is pulling wind tunnel time and engineering attention away from what is actually racing right now. The teams feel it. Drivers keep talking about losing ground on straightaways, getting outpowered by Toyotas and Chevrolets.
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