Dodge Is Officially Back in NASCAR Cup Racing for 2027, 15 Years After Its Last Title
Dodge will race in the Cup Series again from 2027 with Kaulig Racing as its anchor team. The race car is revealed December 4 at the Snowball Derby.
Dodge is going back to NASCAR's top series. The brand will compete in the Cup Series starting in 2027, ending an absence that dates to the close of the 2012 season — 14 seasons on the sidelines. Tim Kuniskis, who heads Stellantis' American brands, SRT Performance and Direct Connection, broke the news in Las Vegas on November 2 during a preview of the company's SEMA Show display.
The bigger signal is about the brand, not the racing. Dodge frames the return as proof that gas-powered performance is back at the core of its identity — the same pitch behind the 600-hp Charger Super Bee that reaches dealers early next year.
Kaulig anchors the effort, and the clock is short
Kaulig Racing will serve as the anchor team for both Dodge and Ram. It already runs Ram's factory-backed program in NASCAR's Truck Series, which brought Ram back for 2026 after a 13-year gap, according to Motorsport.com.
Overall responsibility sits with Dodge SRT Racing, the in-house group that now runs Stellantis' North American motorsports work, from NASCAR to the brand's NHRA nitro program.
Kuniskis admits the timeline is aggressive. "Everyone said it was impossible to get back in one year. We said, 'watch this,'" he said. Rather than spend three years preparing, Dodge says it will plan, test and refine in real time, at the track.
Outside observers see the same squeeze. FOX Sports reported in October that Dodge still had to finalize an engine deal, was only building out a tech center and simulator, and that Kaulig was expected to be the lone Dodge-supported team in 2027.
Two dates to watch
Kaulig will name its 2027 driver lineup during NASCAR Championship Weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Then, on December 4, Dodge will unveil the car that will carry its livery in Cup competition at the 59th Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida. The reveal streams on FloRacing and the NASCAR Channel.
The same event hosts the Dodge Sno-Brawl, in which celebrity drivers race identically prepared Charger late-model stock cars. The Snowball Derby, a 300-lap Super Late Model race first run in 1968, is one of short-track racing's marquee weekends.
Where Dodge left off — and what it hasn't said
Dodge scored its first Cup win in 1953. Its last season ended with a title: in 2012, Brad Keselowski won the championship in Penske Racing's No. 2 "Blue Deuce" Charger. Penske had already committed to Ford for 2013, and without another top team to lean on, Dodge pulled out after that season. It now rejoins a series contested by Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota.
Plenty is still unannounced. Dodge hasn't said which body the race car will use, who will build its engines, how many cars Kaulig will field or who will drive them. On the showroom side, the Charger is the brand's muscle car: a two-door or four-door with standard all-wheel drive and twin-turbo 3.0-liter SIXPACK power, from the 420-hp R/T to the 550-hp Scat Pack and the 600-hp Super Bee. Collectors already have a limited Mopar '27 Charger to chase.
The Snowball Derby reveal is the next hard checkpoint — and the first real look at what Dodge will actually race next season.
