Dodge is expected to announce its withdrawal from NASCAR competition following the 2012 season, multiple sources with knowledge of Dodge's plans told ESPN.com.

Dodge is expected to hold a Tuesday press conference to make the announcement. Attempts to contact multiple Dodge spokespeople for comment were unsuccessful or resulted in no comment.

Dodge was faced with a rebuilding phase beginning in 2013, after Penske Racing -- the lone NASCAR organization to field Dodges since 2009 -- chose to leave the manufacturer in favor of Ford Motor Company beginning next season.

That in turn generated additional speculation as to why Fiat-Chrysler would let that agreement lapse, and one can only assume that the company cannot get a front-line team involved on their behalf. When Andretti Autosport announced that its "window of opportunity" to field a team in NASCAR in 2013 had closed, it was correctly speculated that Fiat-Chrysler balked at the very large number that would be required to get Andretti involved in the automaker's Sprint Cup effort. After the involvement of the Andretti Autosport organization didn't come together, the residual options remaining for Dodge are decidedly second- and third-tier opportunities, even though Andretti had no substantive experience outside of IndyCar and sports cars.

When you combine a stagnant Sprint Cup engine development program with a second- or third-tier Sprint Cup effort, a team that would lack on so many levels in terms of car-building ability, technical expertise, research and development resources, and on top of that a team saddled with the inability to deal with the ramifications involved with fielding a front-line Sprint Cup effort for a major manufacturer in NASCAR, then you have a recipe for a disaster.

The final clue that Dodge is done? This past weekend marked the debut in the American Le Mans Series of the SRT Motorsports Viper Racing program in the manufacturer-intensive GT class, a two-car effort that is said to be a three-year deal with Riley Technologies, based in Mooresville, North Carolina. The production Viper is marking its return to the streets and byways, and the corresponding racing program is designed to enhance its credibility and reputation in the sports car market. This marks a return of sorts to past glory days for the Viper in international GT racing, and a program that is - oh, by the way - dramatically cheaper than a front-line Sprint Cup program.