NASCAR Is Optimistic A Fourth Manufacturer Is ‘Close’ To Joining The Series
All three manufacturers competing in NASCAR have cars in the Championship 4, but the sport could go four-for-four soon.
NASCAR President Steve Phelps confirmed during the State of the Sport press conference on Friday that discussions are ongoing with several automakers about joining the series.
“I would say is that we’re in different phases depending on the OEs (original equipment manufacturers). Right now we’re in discussion with several OEs about coming in,” Phelps said.
“I won’t get into exactly where those are and who they are, but we have an OE that is close. That OE has buy-out from those that are in the racing portion of that. So it really just comes down to the business portion and can we strike a deal that is advantageous for them and for us? Are we the right fit for their brand? Are we not?”
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NASCAR has had just Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota competing in the Cup Series since Dodge pulled out after Brad Keselowski won the 2012 championship. Phelps didn’t suggest who the interested automakers are on Friday, but had previously suggested that Honda is one of them. Dodge and Hyundai are among the other possibilities.
“I’m cautiously optimistic, and then we need to being accelerate the other discussions we’ve had because I think in our opinion five is probably the right number of OEs,” Phelps added.
“We are a couple of years away. It takes a while obviously to get up and running, but we’re excited about it because we would like to have another OE or two. So do our existing three OEs. They want to have additional competition from additional OEs for a number of reasons.”
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The seventh generation Cup Series car is a common chassis that all three manufacturers use, but they each install their own engines and bodies that are modeled on production cars.
Ford runs a Mustang body and Toyota uses a two-door take on the Camry sedan’s. Chevrolet will continue to run Camaros in 2025, even though it was discontinued last year, but it isn’t allowed to make any major changes unless it switches to a new car that is in production.
Honda would likely follow Toyota’s lead with a two-door version of the Accord midsize sedan, while Dodge has a new two-door Charger set to go on sale in 2025.
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