Update: April 16th, 9:03 AM EST – A representative from Ford Performance has responded to our inquiry, stating the following:
“That design is a common Ford camouflage scheme, but as far as your question goes (regarding Shelby branding coming to NASCAR), we’ll have that answer when the car is publicly unveiled on May 5.”
– Ford Performance to Michael Carey of TobyChristie.com
Original Story:
Fans are only a few short weeks away from seeing the official reveal of the manufacturer specs of NASCAR’s Next Gen car.
That isn’t stopping Ford from whetting the appetite of race fans, with a teaser video of the car in action on Thursday.
Born from the passion of our fans. Built for a new kind of driver. The next generation of Mustang joins the @NASCAR Cup Series. The celebration begins on May 5. #NASCAR #FordMustang pic.twitter.com/px9q1BMG5A
— Ford Performance (@FordPerformance) April 15, 2021
The video is brief but showcases the camouflaged Ford-spec driving around Martinsville Speedway from the private test a few weeks ago.
“We couldn’t be more excited to show off the NASCAR Next Gen Mustang to Mustang enthusiasts and Ford race fans around the world,” said Mark Rushbrook, global director, Ford Performance Motorsports. “This is truly a game-changing redesign for the sport of NASCAR, and we expect everyone is going to love the result of the countless hours of work by those of us at Ford Performance and our partners in NASCAR. Mustang Week is the perfect opportunity to showcase a quick tease of this exciting new race car.”
Interestingly, the camouflage pattern on the car offers something for fans to ponder.
For those paying close attention, it appears that the entire car is decked out of a repeated Shelby Cobra logo pattern, suggesting that the Ford branding for the car could become the Shelby GT350 or more likely the Shelby GT500.
The Chevrolet Camaro for comparison is branded as the Camaro ZL1 1LE, a high-performance variant of the Camaro.
It’s also not the first time a future iteration of a NASCAR Cup Series car was teased on the camouflage either. Fans may recall back in 2012, Chevrolet placed the “SS” badging inside its checkered flag pattern on the rear quarter panels, leaving fans curious as to what the branding meant.
TobyChristie.com has reached out to Ford for a comment on the matter, but the request has not been answered at the time of this story’s publishing.
Fans can see the Next Gen specs of Chevrolet, Ford, and Toyota be revealed on May 5th on NASCAR.com.
