Ram recently announced it will return to the Craftsman Truck Series starting with the 2026 season. Yet, the company's CEO has much bigger plans in mind.
Tim Kuniskis wants to get Dodge back in the NASCAR Cup Series sooner rather than later. After all, the company has tried two previous times to return after exiting NASCAR, but those efforts were unsuccessful.
"It's going to take a little bit longer to get to Cup. Our goal is to get to Cup a year after that," Kuniskis said during an appearance on the "Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour" podcast.
"Now, everybody has told me we're crazy, there's no way you're gonna get there, but we think there's a couple of things from our legacy that might speed that development time up. And maybe, maybe we can be at Daytona this year with Truck and then the following year, Daytona in Cup."
Simply returning to the Cup Series after more than a decade away is not as simple as finding a team to partner with in 2027. Dodge would have to develop a body and do serious development on an engine program.
It would have to figure out which car to base its Cup entry on after discontinuing the Challenger and taking the Charger program in a different direction.
As John Probst, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer, told media members in early June, onboarding takes about 18 months for the Cup Series.
"A lot of very smart people -- smarter than me -- said 'You better plan on two years to get back to Cup,'" Kuniskis added. "But TBD. I'm always pushing for the quicker timeline. So, I'm hoping that it's 2027 -- 2026 for Truck and 2027 for Cup."
Of course, the development is only part of the process. As the Ram CEO explained to Harvick, the company got "pretty far down the road" toward a Cup Series return, only to encounter a roadblock. They were unaware of the charter system.
This charter hurdle made Ram slow down and try to figure out the best approach moving forward. This is also one reason why the company hasn't announced any team partners for the 2026 Truck Series season.