NASCAR officials have made no secret of a desire to add a fourth manufacturer to its top series and a meeting between Honda and NASCAR officials at Indianapolis Motor Speedway prior to last weekend's Indianapolis 500 has fueled ongoing rumors that Honda will be that manufacturer, joining Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota.
"A group of NASCAR executives who traveled to IMS last Friday during Indy 500 weekend were seen spending time in Honda’s hauler, per people familiar," a tweet from Sports Business Journal's Adam Stern on Wednesday read.
According to Stern, NASCAR President Steve Phelps and NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer
Steve O’Donnell were among the NASCAR executives in the meeting in the Honda hauler at Indy.
Former NASCAR driver Mike Wallace predicted on Facebook days earlier a Honda entry into NASCAR through a partnership between NASCAR team Richard Petty Motorsports and IndyCar's Andretti Autosport.
"Petty-Andretti Motorsports coming to NASCAR with Honda cars and funding. Not a much better way for Honda Motor Co. to enter NASCAR with two iconic names to be the spokesman for there team Richard Petty and Mario Andretti.
"Michael Andretti is the best positioned team outside of NASCAR to bring Honda into stock car racing and with former NASCAR crew chief and NASCAR Excutive Robin Pemberton already employed at Andretti. Sounds like it’s all done but the announcement,” Wallace posted.
RPM is in its second year with Chevrolet after a switch from Ford as part of a technical alliance with longtime Chevrolet team, Richard Childress Racing. RPM also moved its operations to the RCR campus.
Robin Pemberton, a former NASCAR executive and crew chief, joined the Andretti team this year to lead its Pirelli GT4 America Series program.
NASCAR is expected to introduce a remodeled Cup Series race car for its 2021 season. Possible features of that car were previewed in the Monster Energy NASCAR All-Star Race earlier this month.
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