Terry Blount
Terry Blount covers motorsports for ESPN.com after 25 years as a sports reporter and columnist at three major metro newspapers. AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Mark Kent, manager of GM Racing, said Sunday that a Chevrolet has a model selected for the new 2013 Sprint Cup entry, but he wouldn't reveal what it is.
"We have a car we're working on," Kent said at Phoenix International Raceway. "It's a model that will be in the 2013 production lineup. I can't disclose the exact model today, but we hope it will have tremendous similarity between the street car and the race car."
Many NASCAR fans have wondered why Chevrolet elected not to use the Camaro as its new model in the Nationwide Series when Ford went to the Mustang and Dodge is using the Challenger.
Ford plans to switch from the Fusion to the Mustang for Cup's new car design in 2013. But it appears Chevrolet is headed in a different direction than the Camaro.
"It's up to each manufacturer to decide what's the best fit for them,'' Kent said. "There are a lot of other opportunities for us to market the Camaro."
Kent emphasized again why GM officials elected to stick with the Impala as the new model in Nationwide, which switched full time this year to the Car of Tomorrow chassis that is used in Cup.
"We just couldn't get the Camaro to fit into the [Nationwide] templates and retain as much of the iconic styling as we wanted," Kent said. "But you can't take away from what the competitors have done with their [Nationwide] cars.
"They are very attractive from the front, but once you get away from the front, it just becomes another car. We wanted to avoid that with the Camaro."
Kent said the best thing about the 2013 Cup cars will be the increased brand identity for all the manufacturers, no matter which model is selected.
"We are learning a lot about how to get more relevance into the car without sacrificing performance on the track," Kent said. "We're looking forward to having more identity in the car, more contours and features that will truly differentiate all the cars."
"We have a car we're working on," Kent said at Phoenix International Raceway. "It's a model that will be in the 2013 production lineup. I can't disclose the exact model today, but we hope it will have tremendous similarity between the street car and the race car."
Many NASCAR fans have wondered why Chevrolet elected not to use the Camaro as its new model in the Nationwide Series when Ford went to the Mustang and Dodge is using the Challenger.
Ford plans to switch from the Fusion to the Mustang for Cup's new car design in 2013. But it appears Chevrolet is headed in a different direction than the Camaro.
"It's up to each manufacturer to decide what's the best fit for them,'' Kent said. "There are a lot of other opportunities for us to market the Camaro."
Kent emphasized again why GM officials elected to stick with the Impala as the new model in Nationwide, which switched full time this year to the Car of Tomorrow chassis that is used in Cup.
"We just couldn't get the Camaro to fit into the [Nationwide] templates and retain as much of the iconic styling as we wanted," Kent said. "But you can't take away from what the competitors have done with their [Nationwide] cars.
"They are very attractive from the front, but once you get away from the front, it just becomes another car. We wanted to avoid that with the Camaro."
Kent said the best thing about the 2013 Cup cars will be the increased brand identity for all the manufacturers, no matter which model is selected.
"We are learning a lot about how to get more relevance into the car without sacrificing performance on the track," Kent said. "We're looking forward to having more identity in the car, more contours and features that will truly differentiate all the cars."
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