It sounds like Chevrolet will soon be trying to win NASCAR races on Sundays in a car that it can sell on Mondays again.
Chevrolet has been racing Cup Series cars with Camaro-style bodies for the past few years, even though the model went out of production in 2023. NASCAR rules allow that, but don’t allow the cars body to be updated unless there’s a production car on which to base the changes. At least they didn’t.
This year Chevrolet worked with NASCAR to develop a Carbon Performance Package after sale kit that can be installed on existing Camaros, which featured several aerodynamic updates that NASCAR allowed it to apply to the Cup Series car.
Ford and Toyota agreed to the unusual arrangement in the spirit of fair play, as they had both introduced new race car designs since 2023.
Chevy didn’t really have a choice, because it doesn’t currently sell any car models aside from the mid-engine Corvette, but it looks like that’s finally about to change. It slipped under the radar, but Fox Sports announcer Mike Joy reported that a new car is in the works during the recent NASCAR Las Vegas race broadcast.
“Chevrolet had their annual dealer meetings this week in Vegas continuing into next week and NASCAR was part of the bow tie brand’s presentation and X were shown a picture of what they’re going to race in the next couple of years in NASCAR and what will be in the showrooms,” Joy said. “We just get to tease you about it. The official release swill come out sometime later, but you’ll be pleased.”
(THE IMAGE OF THE BLUE CAR AT THE TOP OF THIS ARTICLE IS A SPECULATIVE RENDERING BY AMERICAN CARS AND RACING THAT IS ONLY INCLUDED FOR ILLUSTRATIVE PURPOSES)
American Cars And Racing has received additional information that corroborates Joy’s account, but without any further details. When asked for comment, A Chevrolet spokesperson said. “we have no announcements to share regarding future NASCAR vehicles. While we do not comment on future products, we are working on what’s next for Chevrolet in NASCAR and we remain fully committed to NASCAR.”
The Camaro was discontinued amid poor sales and had fallen well behind not just the Ford Mustang and Dodge Challenger, but also the Chevrolet Corvette. General Motors had also been embarking on a shift toward an electric vehicle lineup, but has since recommitted to developing some new internal combustion engine vehicles.
One of them will be a next generation Cadillac CT5, which likely hints at what to expect from Chevrolet. The last Camaro shared its platform with the rear-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive CT5 and was built alongside it at the Lansing Grand River Assembly plant.
The Cadillac CT4 is also part of that family, but is being discontinued this year. That leaves the factory with just the CT5, which accounted for just 16,561 deliveries in 2025. That’s good for a luxury sports sedan, but not enough to keep the lights on at a factory that can build more than 100,000 cars annually. Adding a lower priced Chevrolet would.
We think that is the most likely scenario, but what exactly will the car be? The two-door sports car market just isn’t what it used to be. Ford has reportedly been looking into making a four-door Mustang sedan and the new Dodge Charger is offered in both two-door and four-door models that replace the Challenger and last generation Charger sedan, which was the more popular model.
GM President Mark Reuss has also publicly discussed the idea of bringing back the Camaro name on an affordable four-door car model, but previous efforts to do so did not materialize. Chevrolet could also call it something else, like Malibu, Impala or even Chevelle, while many NASCAR fans still long for the return of a Monte Carlo to the series. (We wouldn’t place a prediction market bet on it being Lumina.)
As for when we’ll know for sure, the dealer presentation suggests a formal reveal will happen soon, but at this point we wouldn’t expect the production car to arrive before the 2028 model year. However, the last time Chevrolet introduced a rear-wheel-drive sedan, it was on the track months before it was on sale. Jimmie Johnson drove the Chevrolet SS to victory at the 2013 Daytona 500 in February, but the car wasn’t in showrooms until later in the year. It’s possible, then, that Chevrolet could do the same thing in 2027.
In the meantime, its teams will be working to improve the updated Camaro, which won its first race of the season at Martinsville with Chase Elliott behind the wheel of the Hendrick Motorsports No. 9 car.
