The Backstretch Blog: Putting the "S" back in NASCAR

So it's day two of the NASCAR Media Tour and while today's stops have included visits with Roush Fenway and Earnhardt Ganassi racing, maybe the biggest stop of the day was a trip to the Charlotte Motor Speedway for the unveiling of the new 2013 Ford Cup car.

Behind the scene photos

It has long been a complaint of many people that NASCAR has totally lost touch with it's roots when it comes to the car. This is, after all the National Association of STOCK Car Auto Racing. And yet for years there hasn't been anything stock about the cars on the track. Take the stickers off the car, and there was no difference really between a Ford or a Chevy or a Toyota or a Dodge, until you went under the hood. Oh boy, it that about to change.

The photo above is our first look at the 2013 Car. And it looks nothing like what we are used to seeing on the track. It looks like a Ford Fusion. And for that a lone, the drivers are already giving it rave reviews.

"The manufactures have really hit a home run," said David Ragan. "They recognized that the fans come to the track to see a good race, a competitive race. But they want to have a relationship with the drivers with the teams with the sponsors and now with the race cars. They want to see arace car that you can go and buy at the showroom floor."

So incase you can't really tell from the photo, you might be asking what is so different about the new car?

"The windshield is really laid back in the car," said Greg Biffle Then they pulled the back of the roof down ans sucked the b pillars back in. So the car is going to be easier to see out of, easier to see around when your behind it. The car in front of you is not going to be so wide. And it looks like a race car"

It will also give the cars their own identity in the way they preform on the track. Which can be good...and it could be bad.

"The aerodynamic platform is going to be unique to the Ford Manufacturing," said Marcos Ambrose. "So Ford has gotten involved heavily in the design of this car even before testing it."

Chevy, Toyota and Dodge will soon follow unveiling their versions of the next generation car. And then finally, we will bet some of the stock back in NASCAR, stock car racing.

"I think the key is all the manufactures have been able to change the cars to suit the shapes their road going models have,"said Ambrose. "So the teams and manufactures are excited about the potential advantages the cars could have."

"This is stock car racing after all," adds Ragan. "It's isn't Indy Car Racing, It's not Formula One, it not Sports Car. It's Stock Car racing."