Stellantis is using the platform afforded by the 2026 SEMA Show to announce Dodge's return to the NASCAR Cup Series ahead of the 2027 season.
The brand hasn’t taken part in the racing series since the end of the 2012 season, which it concluded with a championship win. But it has decided the time is right for a return, and so the automaker is teaming up with Kaulig Racing, which will serve as the factory-backed team for Dodge and Ram.
The project is being by spearheaded by Dodge SRT Racing, which oversees the group's motorsport operations in North America.
The actual race car will be revealed on 4 December at the Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida. The plan is to enter two cars in the series as of next year; the identity of the drivers has yet to be divulged, but that bit of news should come this at Homestead-Miami Speedway during this weekend's NASCAR event.
Stellantis has made much of its renewed commitment to vehicular performance in the last year, of course. Earlier this year, it entered the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, a precursor to the just-announced commitment by Dodge Racing Series to NASCAR’s Cup Series. Dodge thus becomes the first new automaker in NASCAR since 2007.
Said Stellantis' North Aemrican boss Tim Kuniskis, also head of SRT Performance and Direct Connection in the U.S., “Everyone said it was impossible to get back in one year. We said, 'watch this.' Sure, we could spend three years planning, testing and perfecting ... or we could do all three in real time, on the track. It's going to be exponentially harder this way. But slow has never been part of Dodge DNA.”