The national average for diesel fuel on April 1 was $5.490 and that is a strain to NASCAR teams like Kaulig Racing who say it has taken a toll on its intended budget before the season began in February.
The military conflict in Iran has led to a surge in prices, and while it dropped to just over $5 on April 2 following a national address by the President of the United States, stating that the matter should be resolved soon, the past month has hit race teams hard.
Chris Rice, the president of Kaulig Racing, detailed on Thursday how this has affected his team since the increase in prices.
“Oh, it’s been big,” Rice said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s The Morning Drive. “I’ll tell you an inside story of us … back in January … we spent a lot of money in fuel running parts here and there, doing this and that.
“Now we actually have a group text, it’s called the ‘traveling group text’ for Kaulig Racing where we plan our trips accordingly. If we can wait a day and pick up more stuff in a day, we’ll do that. I was talking to our truck (hauler) drivers and saying, ‘Hey, watch fuel prices to make sure that, since we’re only going to Rockingham, do we need to fill it all the way up?
“Will the fuel prices come down? We keep our eyes on that. We look for ways that we can find locations that sell it a little bit cheaper. Every dollar matters with us and in the Truck Series.”
Kaulig Racing entered the Truck Series this season as a RAM factory team and their budget for that is already higher than the standard team because they don’t have an established notebook or inventory yet.
“So this is all costing us a bit more than anticipated,” Rice said. “We’ve never run a Truck Series budget. Ty Norris (Chief Operating Officer) tells me all the time that he’s never seen someone like me keeping track every spoon and fork we buy.
“But yes, the fuel prices have really put a huge hit into our budget. It is what it is. We have to budget for everything and we’ve already torn up more fenders this year than we expected to too. But the fuel prices are rough right now.”
Kaulig, and the industry is fortunate at least, that Cup is off this weekend and all three divisions have been racing close to home with stops at Darlington, Martinsville, Rockingham and Bristol.
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