Chevrolet Cutting Short 7-YO Camaro Branding Could Mean a New Rival to Ford’s ’Dark Horse

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The Chevrolet NASCAR Cup Series cars won’t have the Camaro branding in 2025. General Motors announced that they would discontinue the production of the Camaro after the release of its 2024 edition. Now, this is a concern for Chevrolet, as the Camaro was their vehicle choice for the NASCAR races. But, with these recent changes, they will have to find an alternative.
Going by William Byron’s new paint schemes, it looks like GM has not yet decided to promote a new car. The #24 Chevy with the Raptor paint scheme simply had Chevrolet on the back bumper instead of the Camaro. Now, another important factor that could be at play here is the design of a new body. The two rival OEMs, Toyota and Ford, both launched their new body designs for 2024. Camry XSE from the Toyota, and the Dark Horse Mustang representing Fords.
So is Chevrolet just plotting to launch a new car or stall out the process to make the necessary design changes? Here’s what this NASCAR Insider had to say about the situation.
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Chevrolet would like to retain its place as the top NASCAR manufacturer
Polls of the day Poll 1 of 2 How do you feel about Chevrolet cutting short the Camaro branding in NASCAR? It’s a smart move It’s a huge mistake It doesn’t matter I’m not sure
Does a new body affect the way a stock car performs on the racetrack? Well, in the case of Chevrolet, the answer is yes and no. You see, ever since they rolled out the Camaro in 2018, the Chevy’s have been the dominant force in the Cup Series. The Hendrick Motorsports cars led by Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson won the championships in 2020 and 2021.
However, since the rollout of the Next-Gen car, the Penske Fords have taken the lead with their back-to-back title wins. And they’ve now gone on to bolster their machine with a new body design. Although Chevrolet hasn’t been affected by the lack of new body design this year. Larson already has 5 victories, and the likes of Daniel Suarez and Austin Dillon have also notched up a win each.
Reacting to these changes in the Chevy camp and the removal of the Camaro logo, Brake Hard said this on YouTube. “So it’s not a bad body by any means, but it certainly is a body that Chevrolet would love to tweak on and make some changes to. Especially seeing what both Toyota and Ford have done but they can’t do it.”
The host also touched upon the potential options that GM can go with in designing a new body with the launch of a hybrid car. “Now, of course, they can introduce a hybrid sports car or even an electric sports car like the current Toyota Camry that is racing in NASCAR. So from a marketing standpoint, they are marketing the nameplate and brand, not so much like, hey this is the performance car; maybe that’s something Chevrolet looks at as well. But for now, it’s gonna be the Camaro body, not just actually the Camaro.”
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But it will be interesting to see if the Camaro can counter the playoff charge by the Penske Fords. They are known to turn up during the playoffs.
Chevrolet Camaro is still the class of the field in 2024
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As far as design goes, the Ford Mustangs and the Camrys of the Cup Series field haven’t been able to dominate the Chevrolet drivers. In fact, the teams racing in the Camaro bodies together have pilled up 12 Cup Series wins so far in the season. The Ford with 9 holds the second spot, whereas the Toyota camp has 8 race wins to their names. So despite an older body design, the Chevrolet camp seems to have an edge over their rivals.
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This was highlighted by Brake Hard, who explained why the Chevy has the leg up over its competition. “Denny Hamlin has pointed this out as well that the Chevrolet is the best body that is out there. NASCAR won’t let either manufacturer, either Toyota or Ford to go beyond what Chevrolet has, especially when it comes to downforce. So whatever Chevy has that is the kind of box you can work in, you can never be better than what the Chevy Camaro body is.”
However, if we are to go by the trend of the last two years of Next Gen racing in playoffs, the Penske Ford team seemed to have found its secret sauce. So the question is, will HMS be able to counter this threat in the upcoming race? Or will Toyota prove to script a surprise run, handing Denny Hamlin his first tile?

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