By DAN GELSTON AP Sports Writer
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Tony Stewart is breaking his NASCAR retirement to drive a Ram truck for the first time at Daytona. UFC boss Dana White is along for the ride.
Also on board? The winner of a competition-based reality show in which drivers competed for a seat at Kaulig Racing in NASCAR’s Truck Series.
Ram’s re-entry to NASCAR for the first time since 2012 is certainly about competing for wins, testing the waters for a Cup Series return and plugging the product.
For Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis, the comeback is just as much about the “craziness we’re trying to bring to the table.”
Ram will race in the third-tier Truck Series alongside rivals Ford, Chevrolet and Toyota. Ram becomes the first new manufacturer to enter NASCAR at the national level since 2007. Kaulig Racing will be Ram’s anchor partner this season, which opens Friday night at Daytona International Speedway.
Ram eschewed the traditional path toward finding a driver for its lineup as it promoted its path back to NASCAR.
Ram and Kaulig launched “Race for the Seat,” an eight-episode reality series that featured 15 drivers competing for a spot on the race team. Ram also announced a partnership with TKO Group — better known as the parent company of UFC, WWE and PBR.
White said he’s pitched almost daily to partner up with some entrepreneurial start up or to have his One Thrill company help raise brand awareness. He almost always says no.
When Kuniskis reached out to White early last year, the idea of a reality show seemed appealing: UFC’s growth early this decade was spurred in part by the “The Ultimate Fighter’s” success and other shows such as the “Contender” series have played a crucial role in turning the MMA company into a billion-dollar business.
White said it was a no-brainer to bring the concept to NASCAR.
“The best always rise to the top,” White said. “The format works. You always find the best guys in the world when you’re doing it. That’s basically what I sold Tim on.”
TKO and Ram have a five-year deal in place, and the show required Kaulig’s participation.
“I think the only thing that’s more expensive than going racing is general marketing and advertising,” Kuniskis said.
The YouTube series topped 400,000 views for each of the first three episodes — a solid start in numbers White said can blow up over time much as they did with his backing for Power Slap.
“What we want to do is get people into the NASCAR Truck racing series that have never seen it before,” said White, who was expected to attend the race. “Once there’s a rooting interest, you want to see if this guy can actually win Daytona.”
Timothy “Mini” Tyrrell emerged as the “Seat” winner and will join the No. 14 Ram in the Trucks race that includes Brenden “Butterbean” Queen, Daniel Dye and Justin Haley. Stewart — a NASCAR Hall of Famer and three-time Cup champion — will make a spot start Friday as part of Ram’s free-agent program.
“Anybody that comes in at this point is going to be at a disadvantage right now,” Stewart said. “It’s going to take a huge investment. It’s going to take a huge support system and a lot of manpower to get the program in place. Just to get it in a state where it’s just competitive when it first hits the racetrack is going to be a monumental task.”
Ram’s return is eased in by new rules guaranteeing a spot in the first three races if one of the trucks fails to qualify on speed. Those trucks will be assigned starting grid positions 37-40. They will earn points but not prize money. After three races, the trucks will need to make the race through the traditional qualifying round.
The Ram partnership marks the first time Kaulig Racing has competed in the Truck Series. Matt Kaulig began his NASCAR ownership in 2016 in the Xfinity Series before expanding to Cup in 2021.
Ram could eventually join Kaulig or another interested team in Cup.
“We have every intention to want to get there,” Kuniskis said.
Oh, one more thing of note — please, just call the trucks Ram. The brand is run by Stellantis.
“It’s actually Ram that’s going back to NASCAR,” Kuniskis said. “Everybody else in the world calls it Dodge Ram.”