Dodge is coming back to the NASCAR Cup Series in 2027, with Kaulig Racing running two cars.
The Dodge NASCAR 2027 announcement came on Monday night, at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas.
One thing was missing from it, and it is the thing everyone wants to see. Nobody showed the car.
Dodge NASCAR 2027: What Was Actually Announced
The confirmed parts are worth separating from the expected ones, because plenty of both is circulating.
Dodge returns to the Cup Series for the 2027 season. Kaulig Racing will field two Dodge entries.
Kaulig is the anchor team for both Dodge and Ram. The stated aim is restoring a factory-backed presence on track.
The race car will be unveiled on 4 December at the Snowball Derby, held at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida.
And the stated target for the first outing is the 2027 Daytona 500.
Tim Kuniskis, who heads Stellantis North America, made the announcement. His line was the best of the night.
Everyone said it was impossible to get back in one year, he said. We said, watch this.
NASCAR's chief executive Steve O'Donnell called it a significant milestone for the sport.
What Was Not Announced, Starting With the Car
This is where you should be careful with what you read elsewhere.
The model was not named. Reports of the announcement say the car brand was not revealed. It will only be shown at the December event.
You will nonetheless see the Charger named confidently in some coverage. Treat that as an expectation rather than a confirmation.
The engine was not disclosed either. NASCAR's Elton Probst said only that the engine complies with the regulations. Details are to follow.
A supplier has been reported, but no engine configuration has been announced by anyone.
No date was given for the first points-paying race. Daytona in 2027 is the target, and the date was not part of the announcement.
And the drivers are not settled. Kaulig will announce its 2027 lineup at Homestead-Miami, where the championship is decided.
Two of its current drivers are widely expected to stay, and a part-time third Dodge entry has been reported. Neither is confirmed.
Dodge Never Actually Left NASCAR This Year
Here is the context missing from almost every headline, and it reframes the whole story.
Stellantis has been racing in NASCAR all season, in the Craftsman Truck Series, with Kaulig, under the Ram badge.
That arrangement was set up well in advance. Kaulig was named the anchor factory team for Ram's return back in August 2025, for up to five Ram 1500 trucks.
Its debut was the season opener at Daytona, in February 2026.
That programme ran five trucks this year, with four regular drivers and a rotating fifth entry.
It collected 18 top-ten finishes, and Brenden Queen took rookie of the year. It is still looking for a first win with Ram.
So this is not a return to NASCAR. It is a return to the Cup Series, which is the top tier.
And that is what makes the Kuniskis quote land. The truck programme was the run-up.
A Cup return in a single year is only plausible with a team already in place. You need the engine relationship and the people in the paddock too.
There is a sharper detail in that run-up, and it is easy to miss.
When the Ram truck deal was announced, NASCAR's own report noted that Kaulig ran a Chevrolet partnership for its Cup and Xfinity cars.
So the 2027 Dodge programme means Kaulig changing manufacturer in its Cup operation, not simply adding one.
And at the time, Matt Kaulig was asked directly about a Cup manufacturer shift. He said they did not really have a goal that way.
A Stellantis executive was blunter in the same reporting, saying Cup was the next thing on the agenda to figure out. Fourteen months later it was figured out.
Fourteen Years, Counted Properly
The fourteen-year figure is used everywhere and it is worth being precise about.
Dodge's last Cup season was 2012 and it returns for 2027.
That is a fifteen-year calendar gap and fourteen missed seasons, from 2013 to 2026.
So fourteen is the right number when you count seasons, which is how racing counts.
The exit itself is worth one honest sentence. No single official reason for the withdrawal has been established, so we will not offer one.
What is beyond dispute is how it ended.
Dodge Left as Champion
Dodge's final season was its best possible ending.
Brad Keselowski won the 2012 Cup Series championship for Team Penske in a Dodge.
A manufacturer winning the title and then leaving is rare in any form of racing.
The wider record is deeper than that one season suggests.
Dodge took 57 Cup victories across its 2001 to 2012 run. Its final Cup-level win came at Dover in 2012, the 217th in its history.
Work backwards from those two figures and something interesting falls out.
If 57 of 217 came after 2001, then 160 came before it. The era most fans remember is only about a quarter of the total.
Dodge's Cup history reaches back to a first win in 1953, which is the part that gets forgotten.
Four Manufacturers Again
The Cup Series has run with three manufacturers since Dodge left: Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota.
A fourth changes the competitive picture more than the number suggests.
Manufacturer programmes bring engineering money, engine development and driver contracts with them.
Three well-funded rivals becoming four is a meaningful shift in a series where manufacturer support decides which teams can compete.
One technical point worth clearing up while we are here.
A Cup car is a purpose-built competition stock car, not a showroom model with a roll cage added.
The bodywork is styled to resemble a road car and shares almost nothing underneath. So whatever appears in December is a race car first.
There is also a second Stellantis announcement from the same show, and the two sit together.
SRT put the Jeep Wrangler Scrambler SRT concept on the SEMA stand in the same week, with a 470-horsepower V8 of its own.
So the performance division turning up in two places at once is the real story of the week, not just the NASCAR half of it.
What Happens Next
Two dates matter between now and the season.
The driver lineup comes at Homestead-Miami, at the championship finale.
Then the car itself on 4 December, in Pensacola. That is the one to watch, because it answers the model question.
The engine detail should follow after that. NASCAR has confirmed compliance without describing the hardware.
And then Daytona, where a fourth manufacturer lines up for the first time in fourteen seasons.
Final Thoughts
The Dodge NASCAR 2027 headline is real. Dodge is back in the Cup Series, with Kaulig Racing running two cars and Daytona as the target. The qualifier is just as real. The car was not shown, the model was not named, the engine was not described and the drivers were not announced. Monday was a commitment, not a reveal.
It also helps to know that Stellantis never actually left NASCAR this season, having run five Ram trucks with the same team. That is why a one-year turnaround was possible at all, and it is the detail most coverage leaves out. The next real news is 4 December in Pensacola, and we will update this when the car appears.
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Frequently Asked Questions
When is Dodge returning to NASCAR?
For the 2027 Cup Series season, with the Daytona 500 named as the target for its first outing. No date for the first points-paying race was given in the announcement itself.
Which team will run the Dodges?
Kaulig Racing, with two Cup entries. The same team anchors the Ram effort as well, and a part-time third car has been reported without being confirmed.
What car will Dodge race?
That has not been announced. Reports of the launch say the model was not revealed, and the race car is due to be unveiled on 4 December. Anyone naming it now is ahead of the facts.
When is the car being revealed?
On 4 December at the Snowball Derby, which runs at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida. One account of the announcement gives only early December, so confirm nearer the time.
What engine will it use?
Not disclosed. NASCAR has said only that the engine complies with its regulations, with details to come. A supplier has been reported but nothing official has been stated about the configuration.
Who will drive for Dodge?
Not announced. Kaulig will name its 2027 lineup at Homestead-Miami during the championship finale. Two of its current drivers are expected to remain, but that is expectation rather than confirmation.
Why did Dodge leave NASCAR in 2012?
No single official reason has been established, so we will not guess at one. What is on record is that its final season ended with a championship.
Who won the last title for Dodge?
Brad Keselowski, taking the 2012 Cup Series championship for Team Penske. A manufacturer winning the title and then withdrawing is unusual in any series.
How many Cup wins does Dodge have?
Its last Cup-level win was the 217th, at Dover in 2012, and 57 of those came during the 2001 to 2012 run. So the bulk of the record predates 2001, reaching back to a first win in 1953.
Is Ram racing in NASCAR too?
Yes, and it already is. Ram ran five trucks with Kaulig in the Craftsman Truck Series this season. That brought 18 top-ten finishes and rookie of the year, though a win has not come yet.
