NASCAR has been a three-manufacturer sport since 2012. Chevrolet, Ford, Toyota- the same three, every week, for over a decade. Dodge left NASCAR that year, right after winning the championship with Brad Keselowski, and nobody has filled that fourth spot since. Now, reports from The Athletic say Dodge is coming back for 2027, with Kaulig Racing as the lead team. One thing, however, is standing in the way. And so, Kaulig CEO Chris Rice went on the Door Bumper Clear podcast and set the record straight.

“It ain’t that easy. It’s not that easy,” he said.

He was talking about engines. In the Cup Series, you do not borrow someone else’s power unit. You build your own. That is the rule, and it is the exact reason Dodge left in the first place.

When Penske walked out after 2012 and took their Ford deal, they took the engine program with them. Dodge had nothing. Keselowski had just handed them a title, and within months, the whole operation was dead because there was no engine to put in the car.

“The only reason Dodge left, and not many people know this, is because they didn’t have an engine,” Rice mentioned. “Penske had been building the engines. Once they left, Dodge had no engine and nowhere to go.”

So, that is the mountain Stellantis is climbing right now. They are working with engineering firm Pratt & Miller to build a Cup engine from scratch. According to reports, there has been a breakthrough in production that makes the 2027 Daytona 500 a real target. If something slips, 2028 is the backup.

Rice wants this to happen. He was clear about that.

“Kaulig Racing, Matt Kaulig, myself, and everybody at Kaulig Racing would love to have them back. More manufacturers trying to sell cars is great.”

They have not been dormant either. Stellantis used the Truck Series as a warm-up, bringing Ram back for 2026 with five full-time Kaulig entries. That was the easier move. Trucks run a spec Ilmor engine, so no custom build is needed. Just develop the body, find a team, show up. Cup is a completely different ask.

The Charger race body has already cleared wind tunnel testing. That part is done. It is the engine that is not. The rest of the puzzle is mostly in place. AJ Allmendinger is locked into Kaulig through at least 2029 and will anchor the Dodge NASCAR program. The second seat is where it gets complicated.

Ty Dillon’s days at Kaulig are numbered, all thanks to Dodge NASCAR

Ty Dillon drives the No. 10 car. He just hit his 300th career Cup start at Chicagoland. But by most indications, 2027 will not include him at Kaulig.

Here is the problem. Dillon is Richard Childress’s grandson. His entire career was built inside the RCR-Chevrolet world. Putting him in a factory Dodge as the face of a brand-new manufacturer program is awkward and a corporate nonstarter.

Rice has already hinted at the wall they have hit, telling the media there are “things going on behind the scenes that we have to work through before we can finish conversations with the ten car.”

The leading name to replace him is Josh Berry. He is a free agent after Wood Brothers pivoted to Jesse Love, and he has Cup-winning experience that would actually help stabilize a brand-new manufacturer’s rollout.

Justin Haley is also in the conversation; he is already driving for Kaulig in the Ram Truck program, so he is already inside the Stellantis system.

Dillon, for his part, will likely land somewhere back in the RCR orbit.