Win on Sunday, sell on Monday. It’s a marketing motto nearly as old as racing itself, but while today’s NASCAR stock cars may have about as much in common with the cars they represent as a Halloween superhero costume from Walmart will actually give your kid superpowers, NASCAR remains the biggest spectator sport in America. So you can imagine that participating automakers would think themselves foolish to pass up the opportunity to make the connection in fans’ eyes to cars they can actually buy at their local dealership.
That’s why the “stock cars” packing Chevrolet engines carry the name and tacked-on fascia of the Impala SS, Dodge racers that of the Charger, while Toyota models are made to look like the Camry and Ford makes its racers resemble the Fusion. The Blue Oval has gone with the Fusion since 2006, but before that it was the Taurus, and for the better part of two decades prior, the Thunderbird. Now that Ford has released a radically redone Fusion, however, it has updated its NASCAR racer to reflect its new look.
Unveiled today at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the 2013 Ford Fusion NASCAR Sprint Cup car is the product of a year’s worth of design and aerodynamics work, and it’s intended to bridge the widening gap between production and race car. It will undergo what you can bet will be rigorous testing throughout this year in preparation for its race debut at the Daytona 500 in February 2013.
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