Dodge Charger Finally Gets A Hemi V8, But You Can’t Drive It Home

Do you want the good news or the bad news first? Let’s go in on a positive note and celebrate that Dodge has finally done what we’ve all been asking for and fitted a V8 to the new Charger. The bad news is that only 50 examples will be built, and none of them will be road-legal.

The 2026 Dodge Charger Hustle Stuff Drag Pak by Direct Connection gets a very long and crazy name and an even longer and crazier list of mechanical upgrades to turn it from a regular Sixpack-powered coupe into a dedicated drag strip weapon.

Related: This Loud Purple Charger Sixpack Shows Dodge Still Knows How To Have Fun

Designed to carry a motorsport baton handed over by the old Challenger Drag Pak, the Charger is engineered for grassroots NHRA competition, and claims to be capable of devouring a quarter-mile of asphalt in less than 8 seconds.

Key to that performance is a 354 cu-in (5.8-liter) Gen III Hemi V8 built up around a forged crank and rods and topped by a Whipple 3.0-liter twin-screw supercharger.

This is an evolution of the motor that set and still holds a 7.6-second NHRA Factory Stock Showdown record. It drives the rear wheels via a Coan Racing XLT three-speed automatic transmission, which sends an unspecified number of horses to a Mark Williams Enterprises 9-inch rear axle with 4.30:1 gears.

Check out the underside pictures in the gallery; you’d never think an axle could look so beautiful.

Carbon body panels

But being a dedicated strip warrior, there’s more to this Charger than simply a juicy engine and stout driveline. It swaps out the stock steel and plastic hood, doors, hatch, and front fascia for carbon alternatives to bring the weight down 100 lbs (45 kg) below the Challenger Drag Pak.

It also gets a custom suspension setup with a four-link adjustable rear, new knuckles and anti-roll bars, tweakable camber shims, and coilover shocks at each corner.

Weld Racing and Mickey Thompson handle the rolling stock, with the front wheels – which are steered by a non-powered rack – measuring 17 inches across but just 4.5 inches wide, and the 15-inch rears being almost as wide as they are tall, at 11 inches.

One neat detail is the Frazog logo incorporated into the tiny wheels of the wheelie bar. Naturally, there’s a line lock to help warm the Dodge‘s rear boots before the start line, and lightweight four-pot brakes and a parachute are on hand to haul the Charger down beyond the finish.

Caged, but still carpeted

But despite all of those serious upgrades, the interior is still recognisably Charger and reasonably civilised. It features carpet and the stock door cards and dash structures, though with two buckets, harnesses, a cage, Pro-Comp analog gauges, and a quick-release wheel, no one is going to mistake this for a production car.

The Drag Pak is the first racecar project from Dodge’s reformed SRT division, and the Hustle Stuff name references the catalogs of tuning parts and information Chrysler produced in the 1970s when drivers were upgrading and racing the original Dodge and Plymouth muscle cars.

Catch it at SEMA

Only 50 cars will be built, each prepped by Riley Technologies, in Mooresville, North Carolina, and costing $234,995 plus taxes. Buyers get to choose from 18 exterior colors beyond the default white and three different graphics packages, and there are multiple technical options for serious racers.

Those include lightweight packages for the engine and driveline, a carbon seat kit that saves around 9 kg (20 lbs), and a full data-collection bundle.

The Charger Hustle Stuff Drag Pak makes its competition debut at the NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida, March 5-8, 2026. But it’ll be on static display at the Dodge NHRA Nevada Nationals this weekend, and at SEMA 2025 in Las Vegas starting November 4 alongside a Moparized Dodge Sixpack Charger concept.

Maybe at SEMA ’26 we’ll get to see a production Charger with a V8 on Dodge’s stand.

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