Chevrolet’s 2025 NASCAR Plans and Beyond
Chevrolet has been recognized as NASCAR’s “Winningest Brand in NASCAR Cup Series History” winning 851 NASCAR races and 42 Manufacturer Championships as of 2023. Since 2018, Chevy has been racing cars based off of the Camaro body style, initially using the ZL1 then replacing it with the ZL1 1LE in 2020. Chase Elliot drove the ZL1 1LE to a Driver’s Championship in the car’s first season and Kyle Larson then won another championship with the car in 2021.
Photo from Hendrick Motorsports-2025 Cup Series Camaro
Photo from Trackhouse Racing-2025 Cup Series Camaro
With Chevrolet ceasing production of the Camaro in December 2023, many wondered what that would mean to the future of Chevrolet in NASCAR. The rules of NASCAR allow Chevy to continue to use the Camaro in 2025 and beyond, with the caveat that no adjustments can be made to the design of the body. According to American Cars and Racing, Chevrolet will continue racing the Camaro in 2025 with one small change. Rather than having “Camaro” written across the rear bumper, it will now say “Chevrolet.” While the ZL1 badge will still be on other parts of the vehicle, the very valuable advertising real estate of the rear bumper will now promote Chevrolet.
With all that said, the big question becomes how long can the Camaro remain competitive without modifications when competitors are able to make them? Ford and Toyota have both made updates and adjustments to their Mustang and Camry body styles, making it appear that sooner rather than later, Chevrolet will have to make a decision on where to go from here.
While many may speculate that the most obvious move would be for Chevrolet to move to developing a Cup Series car based off of the Corvette body style, the future of NASCAR just may be pushing Chevrolet, and other manufacturers for that matter, in a different direction. In July 2024, NASCAR unveiled the ABB NASCAR EV Prototype which got a lot of people thinking that the landscape of NASCAR racing is heading toward some major changes. While NASCAR confirms that major changes are a long way off and that combustion engines still have a lengthy future, they are absolutely stepping into the arena and getting prepared for the EV revolution. They have announced a goal to reduce NASCAR’s carbon footprint to zero across core operations by 2035. The prototype they revealed was described by Javi Vibes on YouTube as an SUV body style with a large wing in the rear, reminiscent of race car styles from the past. It is all wheel drive with a tri-motor setup-one in the front and two in the rear-providing approximately 1,300 horsepower. It is run on a 78-kWh battery. As it turns out, Chevrolet, Ford, and Toyota all collaborated with NASCAR in the development of the prototype.
The unveiling of NASCAR’s ABB EV Prototype
Could this mean that Chevrolet’s next Cup Series car body style will be based off of the Blazer EV or Equinox EV to lead the pack into the future? Will Ford put out a race car based on the Mustang Mach-E and Toyota one based off of the bZ4X? It will likely take some time to get these vehicles on the race track competing, but seems to be a likely scenario within the next few years based on NASCAR’s goals and focus. Until then, we will all be interested to see if Chevrolet sticks with the Camaro or develops a Corvette-based Cup Series car to bridge the gap.
Rear view of NASCAR’s ABB EV Prototype
As previously mentioned, combustion engines still have a lengthy future and NASCAR recognizes their fans’ passion for traditional racing, the strong sound of the V8 engines, and the stylistic value of combustion engine race cars. It is unclear, and frankly hard to imagine, what a NASCAR race would feel like without the engines roaring around the track. What would pit stops look like with EV vehicles on the track? There is so much to consider.
However, with the electric vehicle revolution very much underway, and apparently ready to make its mark sooner rather than later in the world of racing, it appears that it is not just Chevrolet that will be rethinking the next body style to put on the track. All the manufacturers will soon be facing the challenge we all are confronted with at some point; when is the right time to release everything we have known for what is entirely new?
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