There has been much speculation about the arrival of Honda into NASCAR, especially after Stellantis’ Ram Trucks announced its 2026 Truck Series entry in recent months. With talks ramping up about the Gen-8 car, renowned journalist Bob Pockrass has advised the sport to consider the new entrant before finalizing the new car.
Pockrass believes finalizing the Gen-8 car before Honda’s potential entry could discourage the manufacturer from joining the sport. Thus, it would be wise to wait for the Japanese manufacturer’s final decision before moving forward. Speaking to former driver and commentator Kevin Harvick on his Happy Hour podcast, he said:
“I would probably wait and see if Honda decides whether they’re coming in. All the indications we get from them is that the one thing they won’t do is do both IndyCar and NASCAR. They’ll do one or the other. I don’t know that there’s any timeline for a decision, probably in the next year or so.”
He added:
“Whoever’s working with these new manufacturers, with Dodge and Ram, (and) with Honda, if they come in, I wouldn’t want to unless I felt like they’re not doing the job to get them in. I would want to have some consistency there.”
Newsweek Sports reported John Probst’s comments in June, who is NASCAR’s executive vice president and chief racing development officer. He confirmed that the sport was in discussion with three other manufacturers following the announcement of Ram Trucks joining NASCAR. He said:
“I don’t want to jinx ourselves, but I would say that we are very close with one other. Can’t speak for them. Obviously, it’s their decision to make. We would love for them to decide to come into NASCAR, and even with that, there’s one or two others that we’re a little bit earlier in the discussions, but also looking pretty positive.
“But we all know that an OEM deciding to come into NASCAR, it’s a big commitment for them. It’s not something that they take lightly. It requires a lot of research and approval at the highest levels. We’re confident right now. We like the position we’re in, and think that we’re a pretty good investment for an OEM.”