Dodge Confirms 2027 NASCAR Cup Series Return

Dodge will return to the NASCAR Cup Series in 2027, a timeline one year earlier than many industry observers expected. The brand announced the return on Monday in Las Vegas during the Specialty Equipment Market Association Show. This move adds Dodge to the existing field of Chevrolet, Ford, and Toyota, restoring four distinct manufacturers to the top tier of stock car racing.

Kaulig Racing has been selected to operate Dodge’s initial two-car team. The vehicles, based on the Dodge Charger, are scheduled to make their first public appearance in the Clash exhibition race at Daytona International Speedway on February 13. The team’s first competitive race will be the Daytona 500, which begins eight days later. The 2027 Cup Series season is set to run from mid-February to early November, encompassing 36 races.

Tim Kuniskis, head of American Brands at Stellantis North America, explained that Dodge rejected a safer three-year development cycle in favor of planning, testing, and refining the car simultaneously on the track. He described this compressed approach as exponentially harder but consistent with the brand's historical preference for speed. To meet this accelerated schedule, Dodge partnered with Earnhardt Childress Racing to manufacture Dodge-spec engines alongside their standard Chevrolet operations.

Formal driver assignments for the two Kaulig seats remain pending, though AJ Allmendinger and Ty Dillon are widely expected to compete. NASCAR plans to announce the official lineups during the championship weekend in Homestead, Florida. The automaker’s path back to the Cup Series was informed by its 2026 entry into the NASCAR Truck Series under the Ram brand. Although Kaulig’s five trucks finished outside the top 10 in the series standings heading into the Homestead finale, the campaign served as a testing ground for the larger project.

Dodge last competed in the Cup Series through the 2012 season. The brand departed the top tier in the same month it secured a championship with Brad Keselowski and Penske Racing, a victory that marked the brand's first title since Richard Petty's sixth championship in 1975. John Probst, president of NASCAR Event Management, stated that the sanctioning body is still seeking additional manufacturers. He noted that a new engine platform planned for the 2030 to 2032 window could serve as an entry point for other automakers looking to access the North American car market through motorsports marketing.