This week marks the 60th anniversary of the Ford Mustang and NASCAR is getting in on the celebration at Talladega Superspeedway. The Mustang Dark Horse will make its debut as a pace car this weekend.
This season Ford has switched their Cup Series body style to the Dark Horse. But this will be a different display of the American auto manufacturer’s newest take on their iconic brand. The 60th anniversary requires a proper celebration, after all.
The fleet of Ford cars this weekend will all have celebratory decals on them. It’s going to be a Pony Show of sorts, but in the best way possible.
“This has been a great week of recognizing all that Mustang has brought to us at Ford and Ford Performance over the last 60 years, and we’re excited to keep that momentum going this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway,” said Jeannee Kirkaldy, global motorsports marketing manager, Ford Performance Motorsports, via Catchfence. “We’ve made it clear how important Mustang is to us by racing it all around the world, including here in the United States, where drivers, fans and media have embraced the Ford Mustang Dark Horse model in NASCAR.”
The switch from the regular Mustang body to the Dark Horse has been a mixed bag for the Ford teams. While there is raw speed in the cars, demonstrated by three straight pole awards to start the season, the finishes haven’t really been there.
Heading back to a superspeedway track in Talladega this week, I think we could see more of that speed. The Fords have been great historically on the superspeedways. Between Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Austin Cindric, and Michael McDowell, they’ve got some serious talent for these tracks.
NASCAR heading to Talladega
Of course, you can have all the speed in the world and come up short at Talladega. Those last lap wrecks and passes happen quickly. Just when you think a driver has everything under control you blink and there is a cloud of smoke and the sound of crunching race cars to throw it all out the window.
NASCAR weekend at Talladega is a special time of the year. If you haven’t been there to experience it for yourself, it is hard to truly understand the feel of the entire thing. This week might end up having problems with the weather, though.
Rain forecasts for Saturday and Sunday do not look promising. So, this could be a repeat of Daytona earlier this season. Lots of rain and not a lot of opportunity to dry the track and get to racing.
With the weather playing a factor, it feels like we might get one of the more intense weekends at Talladega. The threat of a delayed or postponed race makes everyone a little more antsy during race week.
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