Chevrolet Removes Camaro Branding Prior to 2025 NASCAR Season

What’s Happening?

GM announced that it would cease production of the Camaro following the release of the car’s 2024 edition. This cease-in-production affected both longtime Camaro fans and NASCAR fans, as the Camaro is Chevrolet’s vehicle of choice for its NASCAR Cup Series entries. However, as the 2025 season approaches, we might have an idea as to what next year’s Chevrolet entry will look like.

• While manufacturer models in NASCAR aren’t that similar to the actual car, they are still very important to manufacturers. The body style itself is a marketing tool for Chevrolet, Ford, and Toyota. So, these brands like to have a car they are trying to sell represented on track.
• The Camaro made its NASCAR Cup Series debut in 2018. After the Chevy SS production ended, the brand introduced the Camaro ZL1 to NASCAR by winning the Daytona 500 with Austin Dillon.
• Chevrolet has switched the car’s branding in recent years, including in 2020, when they ran the ZL1 1LE. Of course, beyond aerodynamic changes, this wouldn’t be much different from the initial ZL1.

Not a Lot of Options

In the summer of 2023, Chevrolet and General Motors announced that they were ceasing production of the Camaro following the 2024 edition. This cancellation left Chevrolet’s NASCAR program in a tight spot.

Of course, Chevrolet would like to have a different production car represented on the track in place of the Camaro. However, with the cancellation of the Impala, SS, and Camaro, it was unclear what they would do. Fans theorized that the Corvette could take its spot, as unlikely as that a more realistic option was the Malibu.

To the public’s knowledge, Chevrolet is not in a rush to get a new body style on track. Multiple NASCAR insiders have reported that NASCAR is allowing them to run the body for an indefinite amount of time.

NASCAR would more than likely prefer the car to stay on track for a while, as the Camaro was an effective marketing tool for NASCAR at the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Of course, fans were curious if their favorite drivers would pilot a Malibu, Corvette, or even a new GM property in 2025. In May, GM announced the cancellation of the Malibu’s production this year, which further rattled Chevy’s future in NASCAR. The death of Chevy’s final sedan made the future seem hopeless for Chevy.

However, it now appears we have our answer as to how and what Chevrolet’s will look like on track in 2025.

The Chevrolet ZL1?

Linoel is a typical source of paint scheme releases. The company typically releases mockups for the upcoming season as quickly as possible for NASCAR’s most popular drivers.

This year, one of the first 2025 diecasts on the market was Ross Chastain’s No. 1 Busch Light ZL1.

ZL1 is notable because, on the mockup, the rear bumper cover says “CHEVROLET” rather than “CAMARO.” In past mockups, Lionel has historically displayed the Camaro branding on the bumper.

Be that as it may, a diecast mockup is hardly enough to confirm anything. However, Thursday afternoon, Hendrick Motorsports released the concept of two of William Byron’s 2025 paint schemes. Both of which notably lacked the Camaro brand on the car.

So, for at least one more year, Chevrolet will run the Camaro ZL1 body style, just without the Camaro branding. However, Chevy and, more importantly, General Motors are facing a more difficult decision as they head into 2026.

Do you keep an iconic brand in an iconic sport, or do you bring a new GM brand into NASCAR in 2026?

What do you think about all this? Let us know on Discord or X what your take is, and don’t forget you can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.