The Abandoned 2013 NASCAR Dodge Charger Still Looks Great
Dodge drove into the sunset with style when it left NASCAR at the end of the 2012 season, as Brad Keselowski topped off a tumultuous year with a championship.
It was an impressive result given the brand only had two full-time cars entered with Penske Racing and was facing the fact that Penske announced early on in March that it would be switching to Ford cars in 2013.
The Penske news came just days before Dodge unveiled the all-new car it had developed for the Gen 6 Cup Series era that was kicking off in 2013.
The Charger-bodied car’s styling bore a much closer resemblance to the production model’s, complete with its distinctive blunt crosshair grille.
“From the start, it’s been a collaborative effort with NASCAR. NASCAR provided the manufacturers with basic specifications, but offered encouragement to venture beyond the look of the current race car,” Ralph Gilles, President and CEO – SRT Brand and Motorsports said at the time.
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“We’re extremely proud that the Dodge Charger street car is the only rear-wheel-drive model in Sprint Cup competition that is available with a V88 engine.”
The factory Charger wasn’t available as a two-door coupe, but it looked great as one in the NASCAR guise. Of course, so did the Challengers Dodge raced in the Nationwide Series, which is now known as the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.
Unfortunately, discussions with potential new partners, including Michael Andretti and Richard Petty, didn’t pan out and Dodge’s parent company Fiat Chrysler Automobiles pulled the factory NASCAR program at the end of 2012, which included Rams in the Truck Series.
“We’ve spent an intense five months working to identify and evaluate all options for our future involvement in NASCAR,” Gilles said then about the decision. “A number of opportunities emerged, and our team worked diligently to put a structure together to fit our overall business and competitive objectives. While we have been pleased and enthused with the amount of interest from teams and sponsors over that time, in the end, we simply couldn’t develop the right structure.”
Several Challengers would continue to be raced in the Nationwide/Xfinity Series by small independent teams through 2018, but without official support from Dodge, while the last Rams were on the track in 2016.
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But with Ram returning to the Truck Series in 2026 with Kaulig Racing, Dodge is on course to follow it back. The automaker said it intends to reenter the Cup Series, but hasn’t confirmed a start date. At this stage, 2028 would likely be the earliest it could get a program together, as it requires a far larger investment and much more intensive engineering program than the Truck Series.