After long pause, Dodge can finally build upon its storied NASCAR history

Dodge, readying to return to NASCAR Cup Series racing in the 2027 season, can boast a long list of some of the most successful drivers in stock car racing, despite a history that has been interrupted over the decades. To name a handful: Richard Petty. David Pearson. Bobby Isaac. Lee Petty. Bill Elliott. Rusty Wallace. Bobby Allison. Brad Keselowski. Kurt Busch. And Dale Earnhardt. Yes, Dale Earnhardt. Although Earnhardt would make his mark -- and his money -- driving Chevrolets, his first start in a Cup race came May 25, 1975, in the World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in a Dodge. It was a curious choice for a debut, the 600 being one of stock car racing’s most physically demanding races. But the car, a hand-me-down of sorts owned by Ed Negre, was available, and Earnhardt jumped. He finished 22nd, 45 laps behind winner Richard Petty (in a Dodge, by the way), and was so beaten down by the experience that he pitted once simply to get a drink of water. Still, Earnhardt, at 24 years old, started one of the most successful careers in the sport in a Dodge. Across the years, with a few pauses, the Dodge brand -- from Coronets to Chargers to Road Runners to Intrepids -- has been a standout in NASCAR circles. Dodge drivers scored Cup championships and race wins from the sport’s hardscrabble beginnings into the 21st century, although the car manufacturer’s history in NASCAR has been one of both major success and difficult departures. For big chunks of years and for numerous reasons, Dodge has been absent from NASCAR racing lanes. The 2027 return to stock car racing’s top series follows by a quarter-century a similar decision to put Dodges in Cup in 2001, a move that ultimately gave the car builder its most recent Cup Series championship, scored by driver Brad Keselowski and Team Penske in 2012. After that title, the Penske organization switched to Ford for the 2013 season, and Dodge closed the garage doors on its Cup program again. Keselowski scored the most recent Cup race win for Dodge on Sept. 30, 2012 at Dover Motor Speedway on his way to the series title. The most prominent Dodge pairing over the years was Petty Enterprises’ 1970s run with Richard Petty at the wheel of Chargers. Petty made the bright red and Petty blue Charger, which created a silhouette that defined the modern race car, a familiar presence with win after win across the country and Cup Series championships in 1974 and 1975. Although Petty’s years racing Chrysler products often placed him in Plymouths, he carried the Dodge insignia to success from big tracks to small. As is the case with so many other records in NASCAR, Petty owns the most Dodge Cup driver titles with two. David Pearson, driving Cotton Owens Garage Dodges, won the car builder’s first driver title in 1966. Bobby Isaac won the championship in 1970 in the driver seats of very fast Nord Kraufkopf-owned, Harry Hyde-built Dodges, scoring 10 race wins on short tracks. Keselowski won the title in 2012 to end a 37-year stretch without a Dodge championship. [caption id="attachment_530669" align="aligncenter" width="1300"] NASCAR Research & Archives Center | Getty Images[/caption] Lee Petty, Richard’s father and the patriarch of the Petty racing family, scored Dodge’s first Cup win Feb. 1, 1953 in the season-opening race at Palm Beach Speedway, a half-mile dirt track in West Palm Beach, Florida. Petty led 152 of 200 laps and won by two laps. Lee Petty won the series championship in 1954, but that title was credited to Chrysler, not Dodge. Pearson thus became Dodge’s first Cup champion in 1966, dominating the short tracks, scoring 15 victories and easily finishing atop the point standings. It was a hometown sort of championship, Pearson and team owner Cotton Owens both living in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The season underscored Pearson’s talents and was the next big step in a career that led to three Cup championships and 105 race wins. In the 1960s, Chrysler’s racing program became a showcase for the manufacturer’s powerful Hemi engines. The introduction in 1964 of a monster Hemi contributed to engine wars that rattled NASCAR’s top series, dramatically increased speeds at the biggest tracks and kept engine builders working overtime to find more horsepower. “That Hemi engine had a tremendous amount of torque,” said Dodge driver Dave Marcis. “If you could hook your car up and make the chassis work, the engine could accept anything you could give it. It would certainly move you forward. And if it wasn't hooked up, you could damn sure spin the tires off of it, too." Dodge logged another major accomplishment in March 1970 when Buddy Baker drove a winged Dodge Charger Daytona at an average speed of 200.447 miles per hour in testing at the new 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. Baker’s lap was the first measured at more than 200 mph by a stock car on a closed course. The Dodge Charger Daytona and its sister car, the Plymouth Superbird, are among the most famous, admired cars in NASCAR history. The cars had a needle nose and a huge, intimidating rear wing, and they flew through the air in impressive style. Race fans and car aficionados immediately wanted to own one. “It was almost impossible to spin the thing out,” said Richard Petty, who drove the Superbird version. “It was so stable. It took us probably half a year to make it turn right. It was a fun car to drive, so much different from anything else. We had been running stock cars. This looked like a race car.” The winged cars were so aerodynamically superior and race-track stable that they produced lap speeds at Darlington Raceway a full three seconds faster than the previous Dodge entries. The wings could be tilted at various angles. Eventually, the cars proved to be too fast, and NASCAR rules changes legislated them out of existence. NASCAR Research & Archives Center | Getty ImagesMarcis enjoyed success in the Kraufkopf-Hyde Dodges in the 1975-76 seasons, winning races at Martinsville, Richmond, Talladega and Atlanta. Hyde, a longtime resident of NASCAR garages, was front and center with innovations and old-school knowledge that put more power in the bright red cars. “In those days, the mechanics and crew chiefs had a tremendous amount of input into a race car as far as suspension, engine, everything,” Marcis said. “Harry put in all the time for that. I guess he just had an attitude, and he worked hard at trying to be up front and have the fastest race car. He used to go to bed at 6:30 at night, and he’d be the first one at the track the next day, working on the race car, trying to do something different, making the car a little faster in practice.” Despite Petty’s run of success with the Charger model, his strength declined later in the 1970s with other Dodge models, eventually leading stock car racing’s king to abandon Dodge for Chevrolet in the middle of the 1978 season. Dodge faded away again. NASCAR enjoyed some of its best years in the 1990s, filling grandstands across the country and attracting impressive television viewership numbers. The sport’s rising popularity was among the factors that led to Dodge returning to NASCAR’s top series in 2001. Daimler/Chrysler confirmed in October 1999 in media events in New York City and Talladega, Alabama, that it would return to NASCAR with its Dodge brand for the 2001 season. Dodge’s rebound attracted some heavy hitters. Richard Petty, with so many career connections to the manufacturer, brought his team along. Ray Evernham, who had been ultra-successful as a crew chief for driver Jeff Gordon at Hendrick Motorsports, built a new team for the Dodge return and was named to manage the overall Dodge effort, calling it “the opportunity of a lifetime.” Veteran driver and fan favorite Bill Elliott joined Evernham, the new team owner calling Elliott “the perfect guy to be the cornerstone of our new team.” Sterling Marlin, Ryan Newman and Kasey Kahne joined Dodge and won races. In 2008, Newman drove a Penske Dodge to victory in the Daytona 500. Team owners Roger Penske and Chip Ganassi joined the group, along with Bill Davis, whose team would handle much of the developmental work for Dodge. The 2012 season marked both the pinnacle and the end of the latest Dodge ride. Keselowski won races at Bristol, Talladega, Kentucky, Chicago and Dover and was either first or second in the point standings for the final 11 races of the year. He finished 15th in the season-ender at Homestead-Miami Speedway, good enough to win the championship. Keselowski, one of the sport’s rising stars, enjoyed a bizarre sort of celebration, guzzling celebratory beers in Victory Lane even as Dodge was concluding its most recent ride with NASCAR. Soon, the next chapter begins.