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NORTH WILKESBORO, NORTH CAROLINA – MAY 17: Tyler Ankrum, driver of the #18 LiUNA! Chevrolet, drives during the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Window World 250 at North Wilkesboro Speedway on May 17, 2025 in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. (Photo by James Gilbert\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Ram is shaking things up in a big way as it returns to NASCAR\u2019s Craftsman Truck Series for 2026, and it\u2019s not doing it quietly. The company rolled out its new \u201cFree Agent Program,\u201d a plan that will put a different driver behind the wheel of the No. 25<\/a> Kaulig Racing<\/a> truck every race week.<\/p>\n Instead of sticking with one full-time driver, Ram will announce the lineup days leading up to the event. The goal is simple: bring more eyes to the Truck Series, make the races feel unpredictable, and give fans something to talk about. Ram says this move is built on real numbers and a real need to get fans more invested in this part of the sport.<\/p>\n Why Ram Created the Free Agent Program<\/p>\n Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis said the idea was built around understanding what NASCAR fans value most. \u201cWe said, the key to that is these fans love the teams and they love the drivers, these larger-than-life personalities is who they\u2019re attracted to,\u201d Kuniskis told NASCAR.com<\/a>. \u201cYou know, they can\u2019t get in and drive the car, but they can live vicariously through these people. So we said, how do we expand that past these three drivers, and that\u2019s where the idea of the free agent car came from.\u201d<\/p>\n Ram believes there\u2019s a wide gap between the popularity of the Cup Series and the Truck Series, even though a large number of NASCAR fans drive trucks themselves. That disconnect helped shape Ram\u2019s return after a 12-year break.<\/p>\n The company chose to partner with Kaulig Racing on five total entries for 2026: three full-time trucks for Brenden Queen, Daniel Dye, and Justin Haley, one Free Agent truck, and a still-to-be-announced fifth entry.<\/p>\n How the Rotation Will Work<\/p>\n The Free Agent truck<\/a> will feature drivers approved by both NASCAR and Kaulig Racing. Kuniskis made it clear that safety and credibility come first.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t even want to know the name of the person until those two people have said yes, they\u2019re not going to crash your truck, they\u2019re going to be safe, they\u2019re not going to put anybody in harm\u2019s way,\u201d he said. Once those requirements are met, the next step is to determine whether the driver will bring value to the program. \u201cIs this going to bring in a net-new audience? Is this going to expand the reach of the Truck Series? And if the answer to that is yes, then hell yeah.\u201d<\/p>\n Ram expects the driver pool to include former NASCAR talent, racers from other forms of motorsport, and even unexpected names from outside the typical racing world. Instead of collecting points toward the championship, the truck will follow a custom scoring system, with a prize awarded at the end of the season.<\/p>\n What This Means for Fans and the Series<\/p>\n Kaulig Racing leadership is fully committed to making the program work. \u201cI\u2019ll tell you this, if you have ever met or if you know Matt Kaulig, there is no such thing as an aggressive goal,\u201d Kuniskis said. He added that Kaulig, Chris Rice, and others inside the organization are \u201ctotally in on this\u201d and confident they\u2019ll be ready for Daytona.<\/p>\n The bigger goal behind the Free Agent Program is to bring energy and attention to a series that often gets overshadowed. \u201cI think they\u2019re excited about what we\u2019re bringing to this team and the excitement that we\u2019re bringing,\u201d Kuniskis said. \u201cWe\u2019re coming back to go race and be competitive, win, but also have some fun and draw some excitement and engagement toward this series that I think this series definitely needs.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tDogli Wilberforce<\/a> is a sports writer who covers NASCAR, Formula 1 and IndyCar Series for Heavy Sports. With bylines at Total Apex Sports and Last Word on Sports, Wilberforce has built a reputation for delivering timely, engaging coverage that blends sharp analysis with accessible storytelling. Wilberforce has covered everything from major football transfers to fight-night drama, bringing readers the insight and context behind the headlines. More about Dogli Wilberforce<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on NASCAR\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty NORTH WILKESBORO, NORTH CAROLINA – MAY 17: Tyler Ankrum, driver of the #18 LiUNA! Chevrolet, drives during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-291113","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nascar","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}