One of the biggest pieces of news to break during the 2025 season was the announcement that RAM returning to NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competition for the 2026 season.
It has been 15 seasons since RAM had a presence in NASCAR competition, dating back to when it was underneath the Dodge umbrella.
As the lone Big Four automaker not represented in the largest form of motorsports in North America, it was a glaring absence that didn’t make a lot of sense, particularly in the Truck Series, with Dodge winning Motor Trend Truck of The Year honors in 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2025.
Check out Frontstretch‘s top 10 NASCAR storylines for the 2026 season here
Under the FIAT-Chrysler leadership of the late Sergio Marricone, the brands were only interested in competing in series that reflected what they sold. While Dodge has remained a fixture in NHRA, there was really no other series close the scale of NASCAR that it competed in, besides sparingly in the Trans-Am Series, the Canadian Pinty’s Series and some one-off privateer entries in 2013 with some discarded Ram bodies.
Fast forward to 2025, and ownership of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and RAM has shifted to Stellantis – and their identity had virtually evaporated seemingly overnight.
While it had been absent from NASCAR since the ultimate mic drop — winning the NASCAR Cup Series championship in 2012 with Brad Keselowski as essentially the lone full-time Dodge organization — it at least had a dragstrip presence both on the track and on the street. 2023 saw the end of production for the Challenger and Charger models, while the ubiquitous HEMI engine was now absent from the RAM truck line.
Enter Tim Kuniskis, who is regarded as the father of the Hellcat, Demon, 1320 and Drag Pack programs. While the public universally lampooned and shunned the new EV Charger (with its external speaker exhaust sound system), Kuniskis was brought in to right the ship at RAM. With its two profit centers no longer in existence, the RAM truck brand was one of the last remaining sales successes that the company could rely on to keep things afloat.
Kuniskis addressed the crowd before the June 2025 Firekeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway, saying the brand knew it made a mistake doing away with their iconic V8 engine and that it would make it right again. Part of making it right also included returning to the Truck Series — and doing so in a big way.
RAM and Kaulig Racing are fielding a total of five entries in 2026. So far, three full-time drivers have been confirmed via Brenden Queen, Daniel Dye and Justin Haley, with the two other trucks being a rotation of drivers in the Ram Free Agent Program, and a fifth as part of the soon-to-be-televised Race for the Seat series. The latter is similar to the Racer X driver search that Roush Racing fielded in 2005 and was ultimately won by Erik Darnell but featured NASCAR notables such as Justin Allgaier, David Ragan and Matt McCall.
It was over 30 years ago when RAM led the return to NASCAR competition for the Mopar faithful, when the Truck Series formed for its first full season in 1995. Pentastar fans had little to hang their hat on since the glory days of the 1970s when Richard Petty was running roughshod over the competition in a fleet of Superbirds, Roadrunners and Chargers. It dabbled in IROC and won races in the ARCA Menards Series, but it was the Ram presence in NASCAR that would be the catalyst for a full-fledged return to the Cup Series one day.
While that happened six years later in 2001, the return to Cup this time is expected to be on an accelerated timeline. The new Dodge Charger is now available with a traditional gasoline-powered engine again, and it was announced this week that the Hellcat supercharged V8 is returning for 2027 — so there is a path forward should it desire to. While the Truck Series uses a standardized Illmor engine for all four makes, it’s getting a viable engine program up and running for the Cup side that will prove a bit more challenging, as well as getting a car body approved and competitive in a reasonable amount of time.
Regardless of that timeline, one thing is for sure: in 2026, RAM is back, finally giving NASCAR a fourth manufacturer again.
Vito is one of the longest-tenured writers at Frontstretch, joining the staff in 2007. He’s been a contributor to several other outlets, including Athlon Sports and Popular Speed in addition to making radio appearances and podcast appearnces here on Stock Car Scoop and Happy Hour. He forever has a soft-spot in his heart for old Mopars, late model Fords, and is generally a warehouse of useless automotive information.
I always thought it an odd marketing decision (in hindsight). After the demise of the Impala, LS, Taurus, and Fusion, the V8 Charger / Challenger were the only true throwbacks to cars that used to race in NASCAR which were still being sold to the public.
As the old adage says:
“What does MOPAR stand for?”
“Move Over! People Are Racing!”
I know it’s a bad joke – but I always heard that MOPAR stood for ‘Made Over in Poland And Russia’