(The Gas Station is where American Cars And Racing Executive Editor Gary Gastelu vents his opinions. Feel free to let us know if you think they stink.)
The Chevrolet Camaro is not long for this world.
Production of the sports car ended last December and there are only about 1,500 left on dealer lots, according to Cars.com.
GM hasn’t announced any plans for a direct successor and there’s no guarantee that there ever will be one.
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Chevy has the Corvette, which has been outselling the Camaro in recent years, and coupes and sedans are dying automobile breeds.
The Camaro does live on in NASCAR, however, and can for as long as Chevrolet wants to, but why keep promoting a model you can’t sell to customers?
American Cars And Racing has covered this topic before by looking at the possible replacements in Chevy’s current lineup, but none seemed ideal. The Corvette is an option, but its mid-engine layout doesn’t seem right.
The most obvious choice is the Chevrolet Malibu, which would match up perfectly against the Toyota Camry. Neither is offered in a production two-door model, let alone with a V8 engine, but that’s not how NASCAR works.
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The thing is, the future of the Malibu is also unclear. It was GM’s fifth best-selling car last year, but is long overdue to be redesigned or discontinued in favor of more SUVs. And that’s where the aptly-named Chevrolet Trax comes in.
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The Trax has moved ahead of the Malibu on Chevys sales charts this year — 37,588 to 32,749 — and is a good alternative for Malibu owners looking for something new. It has more legroom, a similar size cabin and a larger trunk.
It also starts at $21,495, making it the lowest-priced model available from an American brand today, which is certainly part of its appeal.
There’s never been an SUV-based Cup Series car before, but they race things that look like pickups in NASCAR, so the idea isn’t not that much of a stretch. It even comes with something of a stock car racing connection.
Chevrolet sells a model in Mexico and Brazil called the Tracker, which isn’t exactly the same as the Trax, but fills a similar slot in those lineups. It’s also going to be the basis for Chevy’s 2025 entry in Brazil’s Stock Car Pro Series, which features purpose-built race cars designed to resemble production models, but not exactly, much like NASCAR.
This is not to be confused with the NASCAR Brazil Sprint Race series, which does make things confusing.
The Tracker is replacing the Cruze that used to be sold in the U.S. as the series shifts from compact sedans to SUVs. Using the Trax in NASCAR would give it huge exposure to potential customers, which is ultimately what the sport is all about.
Regardless of what happens, there will be a NASCAR SUV soon. The series has developed an electric racing car prototype that takes the shape of a utility vehicle — as do many EV models like the Chevrolet Blazer EV — and the result looks a lot like the racing Tracker.
It was supposed to debut as a demonstrator during the Busch Light Clash at the L.A. Coliseum weekend, but it got pushed off as the event was held a day early due to rain. Expect to see it surface somewhere this summer. The NASCAR All-Star Race seems appropriate, but no date has been confirmed.
In the meantime, you should check out the Trax or the Buick Envista that shares its platform, because both are bargains that are hard to beat. At least in showrooms. We’ll have to see if we ever find out how they do on the track.