A Ford Mustang in NASCAR in 2009?

[Red Star]

A source at Ford Motor Company says the motorsports division expects the Ford Mustang to replace the Fusion in the NASCAR Busch [Nationwide Series in 2008] series. "We're expecting to run the Mustang in 2009," the source said. It's the first confirmation from a manufacturer what I [Cole] first reported in early 2006 - that the cars in the NASCAR Busch series, which will be called the Nationwide series in 2008 and beyond - may soon be substantially different from the cars in the top-tier Nextel Cup series. NASCAR is expected to require the Busch cars to be built to a safety specification similar to the Nextel Cup "Car of Tomorrow," which becomes the standard car at the Daytona 500 in February. If a makeover will be required anyway for the 2009 season, logic suggests that would be a good time for a nameplate change, as well.
That said, it may not be a done deal. Reportedly Chevrolet is balking at running the Camaro in the NASCAR series. Rumors suggest that Dodge is considering a Busch series version of the Challenger, which just went on sale at a price of under $38,000, for delivery in 2008. Dodge will build 5,000 Challengers in 2008, and expects to increase that number by sevenfold for 2009. Sales expectations for the Chevrolet Camaro are higher. With the discontinuation of the Monte Carlo, Chevrolet has no sports coupe aside from the Corvette and the small Cobalt SS, and won't until the Camaro is introduced. The Corvette will continue to race in the American Le Mans and Grand-Am series, though one contingent within General Motors is pressing for a body change for the ALMS GT1 class, where GM's two factory Corvettes literally have no competition: They'd like to see those Corvettes rebodied as Camaros to help launch that model, which won't hit the market until well after the Challenger.
Also, the move to "pony car" coupes could cause a problem for Toyota. The Camry Solara, a two-door sedan version of the top-selling car in the United States, may disappear after the 2008 model year. Sales are dismal; Toyota is expected to build only about 30,000 Solaras this year, compared to about 400,000 Camry sedans. One possibility at Toyota: Automotive News says that the company is expected to introduce a new Celica sports coupe in Europe in 2009. If that car comes here, it could be raced in NASCAR. The discontinued Celica made some appearances in the now-defunct NASCAR Dash series. If the move to the Mustang, et al, is to be made for 2009, that announcement would be expected soon after the first of next year.(Orlando Sentinel)(12-1-2007)

[AFBLUE]

Interesting.

[unnoticedtrails]

also check out this thread I started a while back

http://forums.bradbarnett.net/showthread.php?t=71093

[Moosetang]

I find it very interesting that GM's balking at running the Camaro. I wonder why?

[boduke0220]

that would be freakin awesome!!!! thats what i've been waiting for

[tacbear]

Originally Posted by Moosetang

I find it very interesting that GM's balking at running the Camaro. I wonder why?

Because some of the Chevy drivers don't want to have to grow a Mullet and wear a marijuana leaf belt buckle!

[bob]

Boring! The only connection with a real Mustang will be the fact that its RWD and has a live axle, otherwise they will have about as much in common with the real thing as the personal flotation devices embedded in Pamala Anderson's chest.

If those dolts had any backbone rather than being the money grubbing worms that they are they'd homologate the FR500C and change the rules to mandate the sort of production based racer that the FR500C is, then you'd see the challanger and camaro facing off against the stang.

[StangMahn]

To be honest, I dont care any more, NASCAR has lost any and all interest that Ive had in the sport in the last 5 years.

[Knight Rider]

make the busch (sorry, nationwide) cars more production like to avoid nextel cup drivers to use the lower class races as extra practice with the nextel cup cars

[reddsun1]

The best series to see the Mustang go wheel-to-wheel with the upcoming Challenger and Camaro would probably be in the Grand Am Cup--er, excuse me, KONI Challenge. The website says it *cough* *cough* "...operates as its own stand-alone corporation with a group of independent investors and its own board of advisors." But it's essentially a part of the ISC/NASCAR "conglomerate."

Speed World Challenge would also be pretty good; but GM and Chrysler wouldn't be at all interested in having their "halo" sports cars in the Corvette and Viper upstaged by in-house rival cars.

KONI Challenge rules keep the cars close enough to their production origins to make them readily idenifiable with fans; it could provide the catalyst for a new era of "pony-car wars," hearkening back to the glory years of Trans-Am, i.e. '66-'72, "win on Sunday sell on Monday," etc....

Now, if they would just stop trying to "NASCAR-ize" the series so dang much, and get back to the natural road courses; get away from so much of the "roaval racing."