After 14 long years, Dodge is officially roaring back into NASCAR’s top series in 2027! Stellantis North America’s Tim Kuniskis, who runs American Brands, SRT Performance, and Direct Connection, dropped the bombshell announcement in Las Vegas at a preview of Stellantis’ SEMA Show display. This sets up a wild comeback with Kaulig Racing stepping up as the anchor team, already running Ram’s Craftsman Truck Series program.
The Calendar Is Packed, But Not Everything Is On Display
So, while we know Dodge is coming back, what exactly does that look like? Stellantis only gave us a schedule of events for now, not the full car and engine package yet. This weekend at Homestead, Kaulig Racing is set to name their 2027 drivers during NASCAR Championship Weekend. Mark your calendars for December 4, because that’s when Dodge will finally reveal the new car and its livery at the Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola. They’re even throwing a “Dodge Sno-Brawl” celebrity race in identically prepared Charger late models that same weekend. The Snowball Derby itself is a 300-lap Super Late Model event that dates back to 1968, a seriously respected date in short-track racing, pulling in exactly the grassroots audience Dodge used to own. Then, February brings us the Daytona 500 on the calendar.
This isn’t just a simple return, though. A brand new group, Dodge SRT Racing, is taking the reins. They’ll run all of the company’s North American motorsports, including NASCAR and NHRA.
Why The Engine Question Is What REALLY Matters For Dodge’s Comeback
Okay, here’s where things get real, and where the biggest question mark hangs. Bringing Ram back to the Truck Series was the easy part, right? Every Truck Series team runs the same spec Ilmor engine, so Stellantis only had to supply a body and find a team. But the Cup Series? That’s a whole different beast. While the Next Gen car standardizes a lot of the chassis, suspension, and drivetrain, each manufacturer still has to bring their own body shape *and* their own 358-cubic-inch pushrod V8 engine program. And guess what? That engine program is the slow, expensive, and absolutely critical part of the whole operation.
Here’s the kicker: neither Stellantis’ release nor Kaulig’s statement has said who is going to build Dodge’s engines. Not a peep. Until somebody says it on the record, that’s the biggest unanswered question looming over this entire program. NASCAR’s John Probst did confirm that Dodge’s body went through the same approval process that current manufacturers use, and that this program was years in the making, despite how sudden the announcement felt. But still, the engine… it’s a huge piece of the puzzle that’s just not there yet.
Think about what Kaulig Racing has to do. They currently run Chevrolets and own two Cup charters. They have to completely switch manufacturers between seasons, which means completely new simulation data, new aero numbers, new engine mapping, and building new relationships across the entire shop. All of this has to happen during NASCAR’s incredibly short offseason! They built a factory program from nothing in the trucks, and now they have to do it all over again in the Cup series where every single tenth of a second costs real money. The pressure is on, and that engine silence is deafening.
So, while the excitement for Dodge’s 2027 comeback is palpable, everyone’s holding their breath for Kaulig to name those drivers this weekend and, more importantly, for the massively important question mark around that engine program to finally get answered, perhaps with the car reveal in December. This is just the beginning of what promises to be a wild ride.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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