By Chris Perkins, writer and editor, GM News
By Chris Perkins, writer and editor, GM News
When the checkered flag fell at Phoenix Raceway, Chevrolet took its fifth consecutive NASCAR Cup Series Manufacturers' championship. It caps off a remarkable 2025 season where Kyle Larson driving the No. 5 Chevrolet took home the Cup Series Drivers’ title; Team Chevy won its ninth straight Xfinity Series Manufacturers’ championship with Jesse Love driving the No. 2 Chevrolet taking the Drivers’ title.
This success doesn’t come by accident. For Eric Warren, Vice President of Global Motorsport Competition, the momentum started in 2020 when we created GM Motorsports. The idea is that we provide resources – especially in simulation – for all our partner teams so as not to duplicate efforts.
CAPTION: Justin Love celebrating in victory lane after winning the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series Drivers’ championship.
“We work very well together as a group of collective Chevrolet teams, which requires leadership from our teams,” Warren explains to GM News. “Whether it’s Hendrick Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing, Trackhouse, all those teams have to work together for the benefit of Chevrolet racing.”
In racing, success breeds success. A huge part of Warren’s job – and that of everyone else at GM Motorsports – is engineering that virtuous cycle. That means a lot of coordination among the many Chevrolet teams that are, of course, in competition with one another.
“Sometimes it’s like kindergarten recess because you’re trying to keep everybody together when they all want to go in a different direction,” he says, “But once you build that momentum, all of a sudden, that’s where everybody wants to be. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy of getting better people, better drivers, better teams.”
It keeps compounding on itself. “It just allows you to honestly look down the road even further, which also keeps that momentum going,” Warren says. “If you’re fighting fires, you can’t invest in the future.”
CAPTION: Kyle Larson on his way to winning the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Drivers’ Championship.
Finding success in each of NASCAR’s three premiere series presents its own challenges. Warren says that across Trucks, Xfinity, and Cup, you need good drivers, good engines, good decision-making, and good setups to win. But especially in Trucks and Xfinity, teams have lower budgets, and so there, Chevy can offer a lot of value.
“If you look at Xfinity, a large part of why there’s a lot of Chevy teams is nobody else is able to quite scale the support that we provide,” Warren says.
A lot of our focus is on driver development as well. And not just looking at talent already in the Truck and Xfinity series, but in all racing categories. “It’s hard for a team to say, ‘Okay, where are all the great nine-year-olds that are racing around the world?” Warren explains. “Because of all the series we race in, we get exposed to talent at a much younger age, and we can put drivers in different situations to understand, ‘hey, this driver really has the skills, and I think they’d be perfect for NASCAR.’”
Nurturing that talent pays off with success in Trucks and Xfinity, but at the top of the sport as well. There are times where rival manufacturers will have a faster package, but as Warren points out, the talent and resiliency of our teams and drivers means that Chevrolet is never out of the conversation.
CAPTION: Kyle Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet in Victory Lane.
For Xfinity and Cup next year, Warren is focused on continuing with medium- and long-term plans that will make Team Chevy even stronger. For the Truck series, he’s focusing on aerodynamic developments with the aim of reclaiming the Manufacturers’ title.
Warren sees our success in 2025 as proof that the Team Chevy strategy works. “We’ve done our homework for a while here,” he says. “It’s exciting to have the resources, but also to have all the teams and the drivers believe in the approach, and that makes it tough for others to duplicate.”
When the checkered flag fell at Phoenix Raceway, Chevrolet took its fifth consecutive NASCAR Cup Series Manufacturers' championship. It caps off a remarkable 2025 season where Kyle Larson driving the No. 5 Chevrolet took home the Cup Series Drivers’ title; Team Chevy won its ninth straight Xfinity Series Manufacturers’ championship with Jesse Love driving the No. 2 Chevrolet taking the Drivers’ title.
This success doesn’t come by accident. For Eric Warren, Vice President of Global Motorsport Competition, the momentum started in 2020 when we created GM Motorsports. The idea is that we provide resources – especially in simulation – for all our partner teams so as not to duplicate efforts.
“We work very well together as a group of collective Chevrolet teams, which requires leadership from our teams,” Warren explains to GM News. “Whether it’s Hendrick Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing, Trackhouse, all those teams have to work together for the benefit of Chevrolet racing.”
In racing, success breeds success. A huge part of Warren’s job – and that of everyone else at GM Motorsports – is engineering that virtuous cycle. That means a lot of coordination among the many Chevrolet teams that are, of course, in competition with one another.
“Sometimes it’s like kindergarten recess because you’re trying to keep everybody together when they all want to go in a different direction,” he says, “But once you build that momentum, all of a sudden, that’s where everybody wants to be. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy of getting better people, better drivers, better teams.”
It keeps compounding on itself. “It just allows you to honestly look down the road even further, which also keeps that momentum going,” Warren says. “If you’re fighting fires, you can’t invest in the future.”
Finding success in each of NASCAR’s three premiere series presents its own challenges. Warren says that across Trucks, Xfinity, and Cup, you need good drivers, good engines, good decision-making, and good setups to win. But especially in Trucks and Xfinity, teams have lower budgets, and so there, Chevy can offer a lot of value.
“If you look at Xfinity, a large part of why there’s a lot of Chevy teams is nobody else is able to quite scale the support that we provide,” Warren says.
A lot of our focus is on driver development as well. And not just looking at talent already in the Truck and Xfinity series, but in all racing categories. “It’s hard for a team to say, ‘Okay, where are all the great nine-year-olds that are racing around the world?” Warren explains. “Because of all the series we race in, we get exposed to talent at a much younger age, and we can put drivers in different situations to understand, ‘hey, this driver really has the skills, and I think they’d be perfect for NASCAR.’”
Nurturing that talent pays off with success in Trucks and Xfinity, but at the top of the sport as well. There are times where rival manufacturers will have a faster package, but as Warren points out, the talent and resiliency of our teams and drivers means that Chevrolet is never out of the conversation.
For Xfinity and Cup next year, Warren is focused on continuing with medium- and long-term plans that will make Team Chevy even stronger. For the Truck series, he’s focusing on aerodynamic developments with the aim of reclaiming the Manufacturers’ title.
Warren sees our success in 2025 as proof that the Team Chevy strategy works. “We’ve done our homework for a while here,” he says. “It’s exciting to have the resources, but also to have all the teams and the drivers believe in the approach, and that makes it tough for others to duplicate.”