Chevrolet drops 'Camaro' branding from NASCAR race cars ahead of 2025 season

Next season the Chevrolet NASCAR race cars are going to look different. For starters, there will be no Camaro branding on the cars. Of course, Chevy stopped producing the Camaro at the end of 2023.

A lot of fans and those in the industry were wondering if a rebranding could come this season. Now it appears that not much will change except the lack of “Camaro” on the rear bumper.

While I get that Chevrolet and GM are in a tough spot, they knew this was coming. It feels like a major marketing and branding failure. The Ford Mustang Dark Horse, Toyota Camry XSE, and…the Chevy…Chevy.

You can see the change in these paint scheme images for Chase Elliott and UniFirst. It does appear that the ZL1 badge is still on the car. So it’s a Chevy ZL1, no Camaro.

Rolling into 2025 with a fresh @UniFirst_Corp scheme! Check out the new look.

— Hendrick Motorsports (@TeamHendrick) December 2, 2024

The UniFirst paint scheme was leaked last week. It seems that someone at the sponsor’s marketing department got an itchy trigger finger and sent the post before they realized what had happened.

That post was taken down and now we have the official release. While the scheme is nice to see, the real news is about the Camaro branding being taken away.

General Motors has a decision to make. Find another Chevrolet car that matches the NASCAR brand, or put another brand up there. I heard something about GM getting into F1 lately…

Could Cadillac replace Chevrolet in NASCAR?

In case you haven’t heard, Cadillac and GM are getting into Formula One in 2026. That is a big move for the manufacturer as America will now have a vested interest in the global racing series.

So, could GM put Cadillac in NASCAR? They already race in IMSA, WEC, and sports car racing. Stock car racing is the redneck cousin to sports cars. A Next Gen CT5 would actually look badass.

But does Cadillac fit stock car racing? I think a lot of folks would get rightly upset if Chevrolet left NASCAR. But when it comes to the future of the spot and making it more attractive for Honda, Hyundai, or whoever is thinking about joining – Cadillac draws more eyes than Chevy.

Chevrolet in many ways is NASCAR. But stock car racing is in many ways less about racing and more about selling cars. Win on Sundays, sell on Mondays. By putting a plain “Chevy” on the track, what product are they selling?