Dodge hopes to return to NASCAR

The chief of Dodge Motorsports is hopeful that the manufacturer will return to NASCAR in the not too distant future. "Going forward, we're going to take the year off, evaluate the potential," Ralph Gilles told ESPN.com after a panel discussion on the future of motorsports at the Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association Show. "We also did a lot of data mining. Part of the issue our management team wanted was, what are we really getting out of NASCAR? We only have two cars out of a huge field. Are we getting our money's worth? Ironically, this year we got beyond our money's worth. How you can replicate that? I don't know. That's what we're looking at right now." The matter of returning to the sport, whether that is in 2014 or another year in the near future, is finding an organization as strong and viable as Penske Racing. The lack of such a team left Dodge with little option but to pull out in 2013. "The Dodge brand is interested," Gilles said of a return. "It would be hard to replace Roger [Penske], because Roger has a long-term deal with Ford. The capacity isn't there to have that right now. It's going to be tough, but we'll have to look at it." Gilles said the move toward more brand identity with the 2013 car could help expedite Dodge's return ESPN