Josh Williams shocked the NASCAR world by jumping to Kaulig Racing from DGM for the 2024 season. Now that Williams is about to have his best opportunity in his NASCAR career, the question turns towards expectations, what are the most realistic expectations for Josh Williams heading into 2024?
A Look At Kaulig Racing in 2023
Kaulig Racing ran three full-time cars in 2023. The #16 car was driven by Chandler Smith, while Daniel Hemric drove the #11 car up until the Playoffs when he took over the #10 car. The #10 car was an All-Star car until the Playoffs when the #11 car was that car. Here is how each driver and/or car performed in 2023.
- Chandler Smith: 1 Win, 8 Top-5s, 13 Top-10s, 3 Poles, 9th in Points
- Daniel Hemric: 0 Wins, 6 Top-5s, 18 Top-10s, 0 Poles, 8th in Points
- All-Star Car: 3 Wins, 7 Top-5s, 18 Top-10s, 3 Poles
While a race-winning organization, Kaulig was by no means the best race team in the Xfinity Series this year. They took some steps back this year after winning 5 races in 2022, 7 races in 2021, and 5 in 2020. However, they are still a formidable race team with good equipment.
If a driver is in Kaulig equipment, and they fail to consistently finish in the top-10 and make the Playoffs, it is a disappointing season. That seems to be a benchmark for Josh Williams based on this season, consistently good finishes, making the Playoffs, and winning races. However, Josh Williams set his own expectations as well.
What Did Josh Williams Have to Say?
Matt Weaver of Sportsnaut caught up with Josh Williams after the announcement. Williams had this to say about expectations for 2024.
“Consistency is going to be the key early. These cars will drive completely different than anything I’ve driven before. I want top-10s every week early in the season. I need to learn what the limit is. And then, come the second half of the year, I really think we should be rolling and capable of doing some special things.”
Josh Williams
This falls within the general expectations that we posed earlier in this article. It’s all about consistently good finishes, and Williams seems to not be too hasty to win right away. Instead, he wants to learn and focus on getting good finishes, then get wins as he continues to improve.
As far as Williams’ expectations based on his career, he has had some good runs before. In 2020, for example, he recorded 6 top-10s, a career-high, and a 15th-place points finish, also a career-high. He also won two races in ARCA back in 2016, so, he has won races. If he is good at getting the most out of his equipment, then expectations at Kaulig may be justifiably high.
In the Stands
On social media, we asked fans whether or not Williams would find victory lane with Kaulig Racing. Fans gave their thoughts on that plus what realistic expectations are for Williams at Kaulig in 2024.
J.D. Thomas says that Josh Williams could help get Kaulig Racing back to being a top Xfinity Series team.
Turnbow believes that Josh Williams will get to victory lane.
Mike Truman is not totally convinced that Williams will find immediate success with Kaulig Racing.
Matthew Connell believes that times will be tough for Williams at Kaulig.
MidNight_R says that Williams will win at some point based on his runs in DGM equipment.
How will Josh Williams do in 2024? Give us your thoughts on social media!