Dodge is officially returning to the NASCAR Cup Series. The Stellantis-owned brand confirmed at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas on Monday that it will be back on the grid in 2027, with Kaulig Racing fielding two Dodge cars beginning at the Daytona 500.

The timeline is the surprise: the comeback arrives a year earlier than initially expected, signaling that development on the program has moved faster than the sport anticipated. It ends an absence that stretches back to the 2012 season, when Brad Keselowski drove a Dodge to the Cup Series championship — the brand's last act before stepping away from NASCAR's top level.

For Kaulig Racing, landing a factory manufacturer partnership is a major step up in stature, and for NASCAR it restores a fourth nameplate to a Cup field long split among Chevrolet, Ford, and Toyota. Launching the program at Daytona guarantees the return gets the biggest possible stage. The 2027 season now has its headline storyline fifteen months out.