Is Chevrolet’s NASCAR Dominance Finally Coming to an End?

Since the inception of NASCAR Manufacturers’ Championship, many brands have come and gone. Some have been here from the beginning, some entered late, some left early, and some left late. But through all of this and with all of that, there’s one manufacturer who has been, well, absolutely dominant in the truest sense of the phrase. And that is Chevrolet.

Chevy is not only the manufacturer with the most wins and most titles, they have the most wins and the most titles over the second most successful, Ford, by a huge margin.

Chevy has a total of 75 championships compared to Ford’s 23 and Chevy has 41 Cup titles compared to Ford’s 17. That’s more than double. In fact, to put Chevrolet’s dominance in perspective, they have more wins across the three national series than Ford and Toyota combined. 

Having said that, their dominance, as all dominances do, will end one day, of course, as someone else will take their crown. It’s just a fact of life.

But there’s a big chance that the process of their crown being taken from them has already started, and we are, right now, witnessing the beginning of Chevrolet’s downfall.

The Latest Speculation Around Josh Berry Could Stamp the Beginning of Chevrolet’s Downfall

While Chevrolet has only extended their dominance and their tower of statistics over the others in the last few years, in the 2023 season alone, they’ve been dealt with some huge blows.

Here are a few key ones.

Jimmie Johnson, a seven-time Cup Series champion with 83 wins to his name driving a Chevrolet throughout his career, announced he’d be taking his team Legacy Motor Club away from the American manufacturer to Toyota from next year. Now, of course, the reasons for Johnson’s switch are rooted in thinking the best for his team.

But it doesn’t change the fact that Chevrolet lost one of their biggest brands and their most successful driver in Johnson.

Of course, there’s also the loss of Tyler Reddick, one of the brightest talents in NASCAR, touted by many as a future great to Toyota’s 23XI Racing. But perhaps that was cushioned by the arrival of someone like Kyle Busch.

Still, there are the recent warnings from “the sleeping giant” of the Chevrolet camp, Hendrick Motorsports, to the rebellious new boys in town of Trackhouse Racing, which could lead to some tension in the manufacturer’s camp.

And there’s also the most recent speculation around Josh Berry’s future as he is set to join the Ford camp through Stewart Haas Racing, as recently reported by Jordan Bianchi.

Speaking of reports, another prominent NASCAR journalist, Bob Pockrass, also answered a fan’s query about the future of Chevy teams in NASCAR, considering the manufacturer announced they would cease the production of the Camaro from January 2024.

“Chevrolet would still be allowed to use the Camaro in 2024 if it chooses to do so since it will be in production in 2024 and rule is production vehicle must be sold during the race season. What Chevrolet eventually will run in NASCAR to replace the Camaro is TBD/TBA,” Pockrass wrote.

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How would NASCAR fans react if Chevrolet’s time at the top comes to an end?

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The answer to the question above in a simple and precise way would be that most NASCAR fans would take it pretty well if Chevy’s dominance comes to an end. Now this is obviously because fans want to see more competition between the manufacturers.

But another signifier of how the fans would react can be predicted from a few instances in recent memory. Those instances are when NASCAR announced the Garage 56 program in collaboration with Chevrolet, something which not just the fans disapproved but Denny Hamlin did too.

Then there’s the whole penalty ordeal against the HMS drivers when they were handed mammoth penalties, but there were later amended, again much to the anger of a majority of the fans.

So it’s pretty safe to say that should Chevrolet’s reign at the top comes to an end in the next few years, it would not only be a good thing for the sport in the sense of how it is good for the market when a monopoly is broken down, but it would also help the sport in a way that unfair criticism of the governing body being biased towards a particular manufacturer or team would also go down.

Because at the end of the day, NASCAR, essentially, is about producing the best racing in the world. And the best racing in the world comes when there’s close competition on the track and in the championship, which, as of now, isn’t there.

Also Read: Amidst Bubba Wallace Investigation, Dale Earnhardt Jr Blames NASCAR’s Concerning Drawback to be the Reason Behind Fans’ ‘Manipulation’