New Dodge Charger Daytona Makes Racing Debut in Tire Rack One Lap of America

The all-new Dodge Charger Daytona, billed as the world’s quickest and most powerful muscle car, is making its racing debut at the 41st running of the Tire Rack One Lap of America.

The race covers more than 3,500 miles across eight states during the seven-day endurance event, which runs through May 10.

“The One Lap of America is a formidable endurance test, one the 670-horsepower Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack is uniquely equipped to meet head-on, as the all-new Charger is not only designed and engineered for performance on the street, but also at the track and the strip,” says Matt McAlear, CEO of Dodge.

“The One Lap competition will showcase key Charger Daytona Scat Pack features such as Track Package performance content and best-in-class cargo space in the ‘hidden hatch’ muscle-car design, providing our race team plenty of room to stretch out and bring along important gear as they spend basically an entire week in the Charger.”

David Carr, a Dodge high-performance vehicle dynamics engineer and an experienced racer who has piloted a variety of Stellantis vehicles in four previous One Lap campaigns, is joined on the weeklong adventure by Dodge Garage contributor Sean Yoder.

The pair will spend most of their days in the muscle car, and work together to plot out brief pit stops to charge up the next-gen Charger Daytona as they travel to competitions at racetracks covering eight states, including:

Carr and Yoder will compete in the Alternative Fuel class in a Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack outfitted with unique black-and-orange graphics. The graphics will include Daytona text logos on the rear fenders and a large orange Fratzog logo on the painted black hood. The Fratzog logo is the new symbol of Dodge brand next-generation vehicles.

The One Lap Charger Daytona Scat Pack will be completely stock, aside from an installed roll bar. It will feature 16-inch Brembo vented rotors and red six-piston front/four-piston rear fixed calipers that are standard on the Scat Pack, the largest brake package offered on a Dodge vehicle, delivering ultimate track performance and brake fade resistance.

The Charger Daytona’s two-valve continuously variable dampers allow vehicle Drive Modes to provide exceptional comfort during travel time between track locations and excellent body control and handling during track competition.

The Charger Daytona’s rear mechanical limited slip differential enables optimal grip and handling, while the rear spoiler provides real-world track benefits by delivering high-speed stability.

The One Lap Charger Daytona Scat Pack is also equipped with Track Package, giving the Dodge One Lap team a host of performance features to unleash on the track, including:

• Drive Modes: The Charger Daytona Scat Pack also includes Track, Drag and Custom drive modes; Track mode optimizes vehicle performance characteristics on smooth, dry track surfaces, while Drag Mode, intended for use on an enclosed drag strip, provides optimal drag strip launch and straight-line acceleration. Custom Mode allows drivers to individually dial in steering feel, pedal response and more
• Launch Control: Provides optimal straight-line acceleration from a stationary start, with five selectable levels of launch intensity
• Race Prep: The new Charger debuts Dodge-exclusive race prep methods for both drag racing and track racing. With energy demand shorter in drag racing, the race prep system supports optimum energy output through a warmer battery. Track-racing needs require a longer energy demand, which heats the battery, prompting the race prep system to achieve a colder start temperature, allowing more time for the battery to heat up and allowing for more track time. Race prep pages include information on the battery level, thermal level and the time remaining for the battery to achieve race readiness
• Drift/Donut Mode: Drift/Donut mode provides optimal vehicle setup to support drifting and donuts and allows the driver to put the vehicle in a rear-biased propulsion mode with electronic stability control (ESC) full off and then vary the amount of traction control to support drifting and donuts
• Drive Experience Recorder: Drivers can capture and analyze a day at the track via the dashcam in the all-new Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack with the Drive Experience Recorder (DxR). The event-based recorder, with user options for drag race and circuit race recording, offers synchronized logging of audio, video and vehicle data

Dodge enthusiasts can follow Carr and Yoder as they travel throughout the country in the Charger Daytona via online race coverage at DodgeGarage.com.

For more information on the Tire Rack One Lap of America and to view YouTube livestream coverage of the race, visit onelapofamerica.com.

In Related News: The Ram brand will reintroduce the Ram 1500 Express model with a starting price of $44,495, which includes destination. The Ram 1500 Express is available in Crew Cab and Quad Cab body styles with 2WD or 4WD drivetrains.

The new model marks the return of the Black Express package for 2026 model year — one of the most popular trucks ever offered on the Ram 1500. When orders opened in summer 2013, Black Express accounted for more than 20 percent of the trucks coming off the Ram 1500 production line. The package was also offered in 2019 with equal popularity.

The 2026 Ram 1500 Black Express package ($995, Quad and Crew 4WD only) adds the following:

• Sport hood
• Black badging
• Black 20-inch wheels
• Side steps
• LED fog lamps
• Upgraded interior with black cloth bucket seats, 7-inch gauge cluster, floor console

Ram 1500 Express pricing includes $2,095 destination:

• Quad Cab 2WD – $44,495
• Crew Cab 2WD – $47,245
• Quad Cab 4WD – $48,345
• Crew Cab 4WD – $51,095

Available colors include Diamond Black, Bright White, Granite Crystal, Forged Blue, and Hydro Blue.

The Ram 1500 is assembled at Sterling Heights Assembly Plant (SHAP). Orders for the 2026 Ram 1500 Express are open with availability in the third quarter of 2025.

For more information, visit here.