Former NASCAR crew chief Ray Evernham said it is "great to see interest back from Chrysler" about a possible return of Dodge to the sport, according to Ken Willis of the Daytona Beach NEWS-JOURNAL. Evernham said, "What's exciting to me about this, [Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne] has for some reason come around to believe NASCAR is a great marketing tool. To me, that's as big a pat on the back as NASCAR can get right now, at a time when we need it" Evernham in '99 left as Jeff Gordon's crew chief to "become a team owner" and from '01-07 was "part of Chrylser’s return to NASCAR’s top level with the Dodge Intrepid" (Daytona Beach NEWS-JOURNAL, 12/6). However, ESPN.com's Bob Pockrass reported any manufacturer "wanting to come into NASCAR for the '17 season would have had to make a formal request" by Sept. '15. The current NASCAR rules require race-car "renderings for new models to be submitted by more than a year before they ever are raced on the track." The deadline is "Oct. 1 (more than 15 months before the actual debut), if the production car is already in production, and Jan. 1 (13 months before the debut), if the production car will start being sold in the year the Cup model debuts." A full-scale race car" must be submitted to NASCAR by April 1 prior to the year of debut" (ESPN.com, 12/5).
