Not even NASCAR can escape the effects of rising gas prices.
Chances are you’ve felt the effect of rising oil and gas prices in the past couple of weeks. To put things very simply, the conflict and tension in the Middle East has had a negative impact at the pump. Americans and people all across the world are paying about a dollar more per gallon than they were a month ago, and recent attacks on gas fields have sent those prices soaring even higher.
All of it has people wondering why their gas station visits have become pricier, and when they might be able to experience some financial relief. Even the fine folks over at NASCAR are trying to figure out where they can cut costs, and Chris Rice, the president of Kaulig Racing, recently spoke about how the rising prices have affected their budget on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s The Morning Drive.
Rice was very open about the challenges higher gas prices have presented to his racing team. With the national average for diesel climbing to over $5 a gallon, it’s created quite the squeeze on racing teams:
“Oh, it’s been big. 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?'”
Pretty wild to hear that… but you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.
The only positive for the Truck Series team is that most of the races have been taking places near “base camp.” Darlington, Martinsville, Rockingham and Bristol have been the tracks on the schedule as of late. If teams like Kaulig Racing were having to travel farther, they’d really be needing to find ways to stretch their dollar.
And Rice later said that they’ve already had more expenses than they anticipated this year, so the rising gas prices aren’t helping the situation:
“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. So this is all costing us a bit more than anticipated…
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.”
I’m sure Rice, Kaulig Racing, and the sport of NASCAR at large is hoping that gas prices come back down sooner rather than later.
