Dodge Announces NASCAR Cup Series Return for 2027, Starting at Daytona 500 with Kaulig Racing

Dodge is coming back to NASCAR's top series, and it is coming a year early.

The Stellantis-owned brand announced Monday, Nov. 2, at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas that it will compete in the 2027 Cup Series. The earlier target was 2028. The Daytona 500 in mid-February will be its first race back.

Dodge will give the series four manufacturers again, alongside Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota. The 2027 schedule runs 36 races and ends with a champion crowned in early November.

Kaulig Racing carries the flag

Kaulig Racing will field a two-car Dodge Charger team starting at the Daytona 500. AJ Allmendinger and Ty Dillon are expected to drive. A formal driver announcement is planned for NASCAR's championship weekend in Homestead, Florida.

Kaulig's recent Truck Series record is thin. The organization ran five trucks this season, and all five sit outside the top 10 in the series standings heading into the season finale at Homestead this weekend.

That is the group Dodge is betting on for its Cup comeback.

How Dodge got a year back

Dodge would normally need about two years to prepare for the Cup Series. It shortened that by partnering with Earnhardt Childress Racing to build Dodge-spec engines alongside ECR's regular Chevrolet operation.

The arrangement is unusual. A rival manufacturer's engine shop will build the new entrant's powerplants.

Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota allowed the partnership in part because they believed a fourth manufacturer would be good for the overall health of the series, according to The Athletic's reporting.

What Dodge and NASCAR said

"Everyone said it was impossible to get back in one year. We said, 'Watch this,'" said Tim Kuniskis, head of American Brands at Stellantis North America.

He acknowledged the risk. "Sure, we could spend three years planning, testing and perfecting … or we could do all three in real time, on the track," Kuniskis said. "It's going to be exponentially harder this way. But slow has never been part of Dodge DNA."

Kuniskis has also said Ram plans to tap NASCAR's estimated fan base of 20 million "and turn it into 80 or 100 million." That is his target, and no data in hand supports it yet.

NASCAR CEO Steve O'Donnell called the return "a significant milestone for the sport." He said it "speaks to Dodge's belief in our sport and gives fans another reason to be excited about what's ahead."

O'Donnell also credited Kuniskis and Stellantis. "The partnership between NASCAR, Kuniskis and the entire team at Stellantis has been nothing short of phenomenal," he said.

The history

Dodge raced in NASCAR through the 2012 season. It left the same month it celebrated a Cup title with Brad Keselowski and Penske Racing.

That was Dodge's first Cup championship since Richard Petty's sixth of his seven titles in 1975.

Dodge re-entered the Truck Series with its Ram brand in 2026. The plan then was to move up to the Cup Series in 2028. Kuniskis vowed to be disruptive about it "unlike anyone else."

What comes next

The driver lineup is due at Homestead this weekend. Dodge then has until mid-February to get cars, engines and a team ready for Daytona.

Stellantis has not said how much the program will cost. The open question is whether an engine program assembled in about a year, inside a Chevrolet-aligned shop, can compete at the front of the field when the Daytona 500 starts.