The Dodge brand, scheduled for a return to NASCAR Cup Series racing in 2027, has had a mixed report card at stock car racing’s top level. Dodge was on track in NASCAR’s early years, Lee Petty scoring the car builder’s first Cup win in 1953. But the brand’s history is muddled by a lack of perfect attendance. Dodge has been in and out of the sport over the years. Next season will mark its first competition since 2012. Dodge has not lacked for success, however, and that includes Cup driver championships. The first one came in 1966, with David Pearson driving Cotton Owens-built Dodges to his first series title, and the last was scored by Brad Keselowski, who won the championship in Team Penske Dodges in 2012 in what became a very unusual year. Pearson and Owens were a natural pairing. Both lived in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and both had burned up short tracks in the Carolinas as young drivers. Owens was a terror in the old modified/sportsman era, stacking up national titles and earning the nickname “King of the Modifieds.” He also won nine Cup races. His driving success came despite gruesome injuries suffered in a race crash that put him in the hospital for two months as doctors basically reconstructed his face. “My face hit the steering wheel,” Owens said in an interview many years later. “My face was knocked sideways, and half of my teeth were out. They wired up some bones in my cheek. They did the best they knew how back then.” Pearson, having ventured into Cup after building a strong resume with repeated wins in weekly short-track races across the Southeast, signed on full-time with Owens in 1963. They scored 13 top fives that year but failed to win. The breakthrough came the following season. Pearson visited victory lane eight times and finished in the top five in almost half of the 61 races he ran. Chrysler left the sport in the controversial 1965 season, but Owens’ Dodges returned full-force in 1966, and Pearson was ready to shine. He stumped the competition, particularly on short tracks, where he won 14 times to add to a road-course win in New York. In the spring, he put together a four-race winning streak at tracks in the Carolinas—Hickory, Columbia, Greenville-Pickens, and Winston-Salem. Pearson easily outran second-place James Hylton and third-place Richard Petty for the Cup championship. Owens often said there was no doubt—at least in his mind—that Pearson was NASCAR’s best driver. “He could drive anything, anywhere, any time,” Owens said. “Dale Earnhardt is good, but I don’t know if he could drive other type vehicles like Pearson. He got in an Indy car during a tire test at Atlanta in the 1960s and was running a second faster than the other guys on his third lap.” Pearson would go on to total 105 Cup wins and three championships. Dodge’s last driver championship was scored in unusual circumstances in 2012. After another absence, Dodge had returned to Cup racing in 2001, steadily rebuilding its name against old rivals Ford and Chevrolet. It reached the top of the mountain again, oddly enough in what became its final season. Even as it became clear that Dodge would be leaving the sport at the end of the season, Keselowski roared through the second half of the year. He was either first or second in points through the final 11 races and was celebrated as champion in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Keselowski won races at Bristol, Talladega, Kentucky, Chicago, and Dover. Then, post-Homestead, Dodge seemingly disappeared in the overnight hours. Pearson and Owens were named to the NASCAR Hall of Fame, and Keselowski is well on the way. Mike Hembree has covered auto racing for numerous media outlets, including USA Today, NASCAR Scene, NBC Sports, The Greenville News and the SPEED Channel. He has been roaming garage areas and pit roads for decades (although the persistent rumor that he covered the first Indianapolis 500 is not true). Winner of numerous motorsports and other media awards, he also has covered virtually every other major sport. He lives near Gaffney, South Carolina and can be convinced to attend Bruce Springsteen concerts if you have tickets.
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