Saturday is your last chance to see a Dodge race in NASCAR for the foreseeable future

Senior writer

Thu, 15 Nov 2018, 9:31 am

Savor what could be the final NASCAR race with a Dodge on Saturday. (Getty)

May your final run be glorious, Zombie Dodge.

Low-budget team MBM Motorsports is entering a Dodge for the final time in Saturday’s Xfinity Series season finale. MBM has been running an old Dodge part-time for the last few seasons and is the only team in the Xfinity Series that’s been regularly fielding the Challenger.

She is ready for one last ride.. Thanks, @Dodge we will miss you! pic.twitter.com/N9f013TR7e
— MBM Motorsports (@MBMMotorsports) November 14, 2018

Dodge left NASCAR after the 2012 season as the Cup Series transitioned to a new style of car. The car design has stayed the same in the Xfinity Series and NASCAR has kept the inspection templates that fit the Dodge Challenger body, so the car has been legal to run in NASCAR’s No. 2 series since then. Even if the car is way behind the curve in terms of aerodynamics and engineering. But it’s been cheap for low-budget and backmarker teams. That’s why Dodges have survived in the Xfinity Series for so long.

MBM Motorsports bought a bunch of its Dodges at a discount from Team Penske after Penske switched from Dodge to Ford after the 2012 season. They also got Dodge motors from Penske because the team couldn’t use its old Dodge motors in its new Ford cars.

MBM, which said on Twitter that it will field Toyotas in 2019, has run a Dodge in 22 Xfinity races in 2018; the team fielded two Dodges at some road courses this year because the tracks don’t depend on aerodynamics as much. Hopefully the Zombie Dodge will finish Saturday’s race in one piece and will find a good home for the rest of its zombie life.

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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.

Follow @NickBromberg on Twitter