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2018 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Is The Latest Chevy NASCAR Cup Race Car

A new era of Chevrolet NASCAR racers has dawned. Chevrolet’s latest racer for the NASCAR Cup Series is none other than the 2018 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.

Chevrolet revealed the 2018 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 NASCAR Cup race car today alongside GM product chief Mark Reuss and Jimmie Johnson, who drives the #48 Lowe’s Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports.

2018 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 NASCAR Cup race car rear

“Chevrolet, Camaro and ZL1 are all synonymous with winning, both on and off the track,” said Reuss. “We are thrilled to run Camaro in NASCAR next year, with the time-honored and track-tested ZL1 badge, and we’re just as excited for our drivers, teams, fans and customers.”

Engineers utilized an array of tools to ensure the Camaro ZL1 didn’t lose its distinct character as it was transformed from street car to stock car. Extensive wind tunnel development optimized the Camaro ZL1 Cup race car’s aerodynamics, but allowed designers to keep the car’s recognizable design. We’d say they succeeded, especially at the front of the car.

 

2018 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 NASCAR Cup race car with production carThe 2018 Camaro ZL1 NASCAR Cup race car succeeds the Chevrolet SS race car—the production car exited production earlier this year. The race car will make its debut next February during Daytona Speedweeks, which kicks off the 2018 NASCAR season. The Camaro ZL1 Cup race car also joins the Camaro SS, which has been Chevrolet’s entry in the NASCAR XFINITY Series since 2013.

Former GM Authority staff writer.

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Comments

  1. This is the first time I can recall seeing a race car from a major touring series and thinking that the street version looks better.

    Reply
    1. Really?

      I do love the color, my only question is why the car has the #8 on it instead of #18 ?
      guess it looks cleaner that way though!

      NASCAR must have banned the ZL1-1LE from competition for being to good! HEHEHEHE!

      Reply
      1. I wondered why they chose #8 and not 18 too. Then I remembered Kyle Bush and Toyota.

        Reply
  2. Regardless of car schemes and race schemes, NASCAR is in for some tough times–no Earnhardt! I have been interested since the 80s with SR then JR. I have zilch interest after this year and am sure I am not alone.

    Reply
  3. NASCAR lost me with all the chase BS.

    I think it sucks the best driver all year can lose yo a driver who sat out half the year with a broken leg just because he one one race and finished well.

    Dale Sr would have been pissed.

    All racing is in trouble and NASCAR in particular. The Brickyard has gone from over a quarter million spectators to 35k. I guess I am not the only one who no longer cares.

    Note I used to watch back in the day you only got 15 min of racing at a time on wide world of sports between figure skating.

    Reply
    1. Agree completely about the chase. They wanted drama, and they created it in some respects, but they made more than two thirds of the schedule meaningless. And the drama they created is exactly that: created, as in artificial.

      As an older guy myself now, I’m finding it harder and harder to keep up with today’s drivers–many of which probably couldn’t even grow facial hair if given a year to do so.

      Reply
  4. Might note this does not bode well for the future of the Impala or Malibu.

    Reply
  5. Damn it I thought it was gonna be a Malibu

    Reply
  6. I think move is exactly what the Camaro needs – publicity. Rarely do we ever see a Camaro commercial but starting in Feb, the Camaro will get more air time in one race than it does in a year…

    Reply
  7. Why do they still call them stock cars. The old way made manufacturers design better cars.

    Reply
    1. The old ways unfortunately no longer work. Technology has killed the original formula,

      The stock cars would not hold up in a 200 mph crash.

      Also the cost of compitition would go off the charts and mfg would leave.

      Even F1 today is trying to contain cost and that speaks volumes.

      Reply
      1. They could beef up the regular cars. They should use real bodies.

        Reply
  8. Now if only the street Camaro had the same greenhouse as the race car. Us big guys could fit into it and see out of it. I do like the look of the race car.

    Reply
  9. To you non chevy fans the number 8 was the number of Louis Chevrolet when he raced!

    Reply
  10. NASCARs aren’t lookers by any measure, but this thing is ugly as sin. And please explain to me how you take a perfectly awesome high performance street car, turn it into a race car, and it gets BIGGER, and looses all of the styling and real world aero that makes it a performance beast on the street?

    I’ve said it before, and i’ll say it again. NASCAR is an absolute failure when it come to win on Sunday sell on Monday. Those days haven’t been seen since the 80s. These days I really don’t get what the appeal of NASCAR is anymore. It certainly isn’t the cars.

    Reply
    1. I like watching NASCAR racing once in a while and I like seeing Chevy win (which it haven’t being doing a lot of lately). What they need to do to be legitimate in my eyes is change the name because there is nothing stock about any of the vehicles racking. Heck the only one with anything resembling a stock engine is Chevy. Neighter Ford or Toyota offer a pushrods engine in any of their vehicles.

      Reply
      1. The problem with this theory is that in the history of nascar stock cars have never been used. The cars on the track have always been very heavily modified.

        This has always been a pipe dream of fans running more stock versions of cars

        Reply
        1. True but they were a lot closer to stock than today’s cars. By the way it was not a theory. I said they should change the name I never said they ran stock cars.

          Reply
  11. All you people that don’t like Nascar racing, Why are you commenting , Are you trying to convince me, the people that do like Nascar ? Well I will tell you, it does not work ! I don’t give a dam about your free speech !

    Reply

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