Dodge has been gone from NASCAR’s top series for 14 years. On Monday night in Las Vegas, Stellantis said it’s coming back for 2027, and the deadline it picked leaves almost no slack.
Tim Kuniskis, who runs Stellantis North America’s American Brands, SRT Performance and Direct Connection division, made the announcement at a preview of Stellantis’ SEMA Show display. Kaulig Racing, which already runs Ram’s Craftsman Truck Series program, will now serve as the anchor team for both Dodge and Ram. A new group called Dodge SRT Racing will run all of the company’s North American motorsports, including NASCAR and NHRA.
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The calendar is the story
What’s been announced so far is a schedule of events. The full car and engine package hasn’t been shown.
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Homestead, this weekend: Kaulig names its 2027 drivers during NASCAR Championship Weekend.
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December 4, Pensacola: Dodge reveals the car and its livery at the Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway. The same weekend it hosts the “Dodge Sno-Brawl,” a celebrity race in identically prepared Charger late models.
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February: The Daytona 500.
Dodge picked the right room for the reveal. The race dates to 1968 and is a 300-lap Super Late Model event. It’s one of the most respected dates in short-track racing, and the crowd is exactly the grassroots audience Dodge used to own.
Why “fast” is complicated in Cup
Ram’s truck comeback was the easy part. Every Truck Series team uses the same spec Ilmor engine, so Stellantis really only had to supply a body and find a team. Cup works differently. The Next Gen car standardizes most of the chassis, suspension and drivetrain, but each manufacturer still brings its own body shape and its own 358-cubic-inch pushrod V8 program. That engine program is the slow, expensive part.
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Neither Stellantis’ release nor Kaulig’s statement says who will build Dodge’s engines. Until somebody says it on the record, that’s the biggest unanswered question about the program. NASCAR did address the body. NASCAR’s John Probst said Dodge’s body went through the same approval process that current manufacturers use when they submit new body panels. He also said the program came out of a process that took years, even though the announcement seemed sudden.
Kaulig also has to switch manufacturers between seasons. The team owns two Cup charters and currently runs Chevrolets. Changing brands means new simulation data, new aero numbers, new engine mapping and new relationships across the shop, and it has to happen during NASCAR’s short offseason. In the trucks Kaulig has had to build a factory program from nothing. Now it has to do it again in the series where every tenth of a second costs real money.
The paperwork that matters
NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell called the return “a significant milestone for the sport,” and it is, for practical reasons. A fourth manufacturer means more money in engineering and sponsorship, and one more rival for a garage that has had only three since 2013. Team owner Matt Kaulig said it was “remarkable to be announced as the anchor team for Dodge’s return to the NASCAR Cup Series.”
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Dodge’s history gives fans reason to care. Its most recent Cup run went from 2001 to 2012 and produced 57 victories. It ended with a championship for the No. 2 “Blue Deuce” Charger, and the brand left right after winning the title. Its first Cup win came in 1953.
What it means if you actually own a Dodge
The race car and your car will share a name and not much else. Dodge’s current gas Chargers use the 3.0-liter twin-turbo Hurricane inline-six, branded SIXPACK. That’s 420 horsepower in the R/T and 550 in the Scat Pack. The new 2027 Charger Super Bee Launch Edition makes 600, and Dodge calls it the most powerful SIXPACK Charger yet. The Cup car will run a carbureted-era-style pushrod V8 that no showroom Charger has.
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So the old idea that what wins on Sunday sells on Monday only partly applies here. Dodge says gasoline performance is “back at the center of the brand,” and the NASCAR program is clearly marketing for that message. That’s a notable turn for a company that was pushing electric muscle cars not long ago. Some practical points for owners and shoppers:
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Insurance: A racing program doesn’t move your premiums. Your trim and horsepower do. The 550- and 600-hp Chargers will price like high-performance cars no matter what wins at Daytona.
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Maintenance: The twin-turbo six has its own needs, including turbo cooling, oil quality and intercooler health. If you’re coming from a Hemi, plan your service around those instead of what you’re used to.
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Resale: Dodge race cars and special editions have historically pushed up collector interest in related models. If Dodge releases Cup-tribute packages, low-production versions could be worth something later. Base cars probably won’t see much of that.
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Perks: Buyers of the SIXPACK Super Bee Launch Edition, Charger Scat Pack and Durango SRT Hellcat get a day at Radford Racing School. It’s the most direct track connection this announcement offers a regular buyer.
The real test
It’s a press-conference win for now. Who builds the engines is still the open question, and Kaulig has to turn a Chevrolet shop into a Dodge shop before Daytona. Whether the body is any good shows up in the wind tunnel first and on track later. The first look is December 4. Results won’t come until February, after 500 miles of racing.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
