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Ram Trucks officially announces 2026 NASCAR Truck Series return

JHby: Jonathan Howard06/08/25Jondean25
Ram NASCAR Truck Series return
Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Finally! After all of the reports and leaks and teaser videos, Ram Trucks has announced a return to the NASCAR Truck Series. The 2026 season is going to have a little Hemi-power behind it!

From an activation stage at Michigan International Speedway, Ram Trucks made it official. We have heard so much about this announcement leading up to today. Now it is here, and NASCAR fans can rejoice about the Ram and Hemi coming back to the sport.

Ram Trucks in NASCAR. This is the moment fans have waited for since Dodge left after 2012 and Ram left the Truck Series in 2014. Step one in getting the fourth manufacturer back in the sport is complete.

Stellantis is doing the whole deal. We have the Hemi V8 engine back! Ram is coming back to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. There is so much to love about this announcement from a consumer and motorsports standpoint.

For those wondering about a Cup Series return for Dodge, that is in the works. Stellantis wants to put Dodge or another brand under their umbrella into the top-tier of the sport. However, the timeline for that remains unclear. Ideally, it would be 2027, but that would be a very quick turnaround to get a program up and running by then.

For the Truck Series, there is more good news. Ram Trucks wants to have a handful of teams at Daytona for the start of the 2026 season. Four to six is the number they are zeroing in on and that means a really healthy presence in the series that only fields, at most, 36 trucks per race.

As of now, no teams or drivers have been confirmed for 2026 for Ram. However, the manufacturer is rumored to be working on a deal with YouTuber and current ARCA part-timer, Cleetus McFarland. Maybe that signals a bit of Greg Biffle involvement, too, with him mentoring McFarland in his racing endeavors. However, that is just speculation for now.

Ram returning to NASCAR, Honda next?

The good news might go beyond Ram and Stellantis’ announcement today. There is a report from Adam Stern at Sports Business Journal about another manufacturer that appears to be ready to join the party in NASCAR.

For over a year, it has been rumored that NASCAR is in talks with Honda. Well, those talks about apparently more serious than we all realized they were. No one has really thought the rumors around Honda were legit. After all, the only V8 that Honda makes is not for cars, it’s made for boats. A 350 horsepower engine.

“I don’t want to jinx ourselves, but I would say we are very close with one other; can’t speak for them — obviously it’s their decision to make — (but) we would love for them to decide to come into NASCAR,” Executive Vice President, John Probst, said. “And even with that, there’s one or two others that we’re a little bit earlier in the discussions (with) but also looking pretty positive.

“But we also know an OEM deciding to come into NASCAR — it’s a big commitment for them, and it’s not something they take lightly. It requires a lot of research and approvals at the highest levels, and we’re confident right now, we like the position we’re in and think we’re a pretty good investment for an OEM.”

For all of those haters who say NASCAR is a dying sport, a fourth manufacturer is on the way. Possibly a fifth. Sounds like the sport is alive and well.