Ford Fusion puts on its game face for NASCAR
Ford introduced a new Fusion at the Detroit Auto Show this week, bringing with it a stonking new Sport model with 325 horsepower under the hood. But that's not even the most powerful version of the new sedan. This is.
Changes to this NASCAR version mirror those on the production sedan. While most of the hard points are determined by the racing regulations, the latest Fusion stock car features a new front-end design patterned after the roadgoing version and honed in the wind tunnel by the Ford Performance team in Concord, NC. But it's not just the nose that's new.
----------
More from Autoblog:
----------
Ford has also fitted its latest Sprint Cup racer with a new digital dashboard with 16 preset information screens with virtual gauges, bar graphs, and numeric displays through which the driver can toggle. Of course the engine is a little bigger than the 2.7-liter EcoBoost V6. In between the new nose and cockpit sits a 5.8-liter V8 pumping out 750 horsepower, which is a more than double what the Fusion Sport can muster on public roadways.
The new Fusion will debut at Daytona next month for the start of the new season ahead. The Fusion has represented the Blue Oval in the Sprint Cup since 2006, winning 71 races since its introduction. Among them was the checkered flag that Greg Biffle took for Roush Fenway Racing in the Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway on June 16, 2013, which (counting all three series) marked Ford's 1,000th NASCAR win.
----------
Ford talking tech, luxury and performance in Detroit