DEARBORN, Mich. – When Mustang made its full-time debut in the NASCAR Nationwide Series in 2011, fans of NASCAR rejoiced. The look of the iconic brand was a key first step in bringing what fans wanted most back to the sport; brand identity.

 

With that in mind, Ford unveiled its next step in bringing the cars you find in driveways to the speedways by unveiling its redesigned 2013 Ford Fusion NASCAR Sprint Cup car during the Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour.

 

The 2013 Ford Fusion NASCAR Sprint Cup car was sculpted by Ford designers in an effort to bring brand identity back to the sport.  The result is undeniable, with the 2013 Cup car mirroring the recently unveiled 2013 production Ford Fusion and coming on the heels of the successful integration of Mustang into the NASCAR Nationwide Series in 2010.

 

“I’d like to believe that the Nationwide Mustang was the first step in bringing brand identifiers into design elements, yet retaining great racing,” stated Jamie Allison, director, Ford Racing. “I would suggest we didn’t go far enough in designing the Nationwide Mustang.  Now, when you see the 2013 Fusion, it is identifiable as a Fusion. It was designed, deliberated by, and literally sculpted by the same team that works on production vehicles in the design studio at Ford.”

 

Mustang made its NASCAR debut with four races in the 2010 NASCAR Nationwide season before coming full time to the series in 2011.  The iconic pony car has enjoyed unparalleled success, claiming a series-best 13 wins last season and the NASCAR Nationwide Series Championship with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Thanks to its dominance, Ford claimed the NASCAR Nationwide Manufacturers’ Championship as well.

 

Success on the track was great for Ford and Mustang, but it was the visual cues the Mustang stock car brought in terms of brand identity that laid the foundation for the 2013 Sprint Cup project.
 

“There is no doubt that was a nice lead-in to what we are doing now with Fusion,” said Andy Slankard, Ford Racing NASCAR Operations Manager.  “We are taking that and probably raising the game two or three-fold by adding sides and a lot of differentiation in the back and more detail up front for the Fusion. Mustang helped us see the benefit of creating detail and making the cars look good.”
 

In fact, there are fewer common areas that are shared among all four manufacturers with the new 2013 Cup car compared its Nationwide counterpart.
 

“On the Nationwide car, from the middle of the bumper upwards to the base of the windshield is the area we were allowed to put in brand identity.  The rest of the car is common, which is basically from the windshield base rearward, including the sides and tail, and then the lower nose,” said Bernie Marcus, Ford Racing’s aerodynamicist who has worked on every NASCAR vehicle since the 2004 Taurus redesign.  “We were able to basically put on the upper nose with the grille, headlights and then a hood.”

 

NASCAR did allow teams to become more creative with their decal package, so Ford Racing developed an intricate 3D decal that actually made the sides appear as though the distinctive Mustang character lines were actually imbedded in the sheet metal.

 

“When it comes to the 2013 Fusion, we were able to put character lines in the sides, the upper nose and even the lower nose,” continued Marcus.  “We had a lot more surface area to work with on this car compared to the Mustang, so we were able to actually put the character lines in the sheet metal as opposed to using a decal.  I think 80 percent of the design cues in the current cars out there is in the nose, and we’ve been able to carry the more of the production Fusion styling cues into the total race car.

 

“We went away from true stock car racing and got to a point where the cars we’re racing in Sprint Cup were very vanilla,” added Marcus.  “Moving forward, we have a lot more brand identity; we have a lot more character lines in everybody’s car, so I think you’ll be able to differentiate them a lot more.  I think it will appease the race fans and it will give the sport an upturn because now the term ‘stock car’ racing actually means something again.”