By Jerry Jordan, Editor
Ford chose Veterans Day and the middle of its Proud to Honor Veterans Day Classic at Daytona International Speedway to pull the cover off the car its NASCAR Cup Series teams will race in 2027, the Mustang Dark Horse SC, and the drivers who will race it started with the way it looks.
“I’ve said this ever since Ford brought Mustang into the Cup Series and nothing since then has changed my mind,” Joey Logano said. “We have the best-looking car on the track, hands down, and Ford Racing has worked to make it one of the fastest too. Mustang is an American icon and no one is more proud to drive it each and every week than me. I can’t wait to get behind the wheel of this new Mustang at Daytona.”
Logano, who has won three championships with Ford, was joined at the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America by a dozen Ford drivers in town for the Classic. The race car is based on the production Mustang Dark Horse SC, the most advanced and powerful Dark Horse ever, with a supercharged 5.2-liter V8 that makes up to 795 horsepower and 660 lb.-ft. of torque.
“When we introduced the Mustang Dark Horse SC in January and announced it was coming to the NASCAR Cup Series in 2027, we had no time to waste,” Mark Rushbrook, global director of Ford Racing, said. “Racing makes our road cars better, and our road cars make our race cars better. We put that philosophy to work here, incorporating key elements from the Dark Horse SC into the new Mustang race car to help make it even more competitive every week. Our team of race engineers worked hand-in-hand with Ford designers to create a car that not only holds true to Mustang’s unique appearance but lives up to its heritage as a car that was born to race. We believe this car will put us in a position to win a lot of races and championships in the years ahead.”
The piece Ford leaned on hardest is the nose, an aggressive design built to optimize aerodynamics. On the road car it increases cooling and on the race car it creates more downforce.
Mustang has carried Ford in the Cup Series since 2019, winning 80 races and three championships. Logano won the title in 2022 and 2024 and Ryan Blaney won it in 2023, and the car has won the Daytona 500, Southern 500, Coca-Cola 600 and Brickyard 400 two times apiece. Around the world the Mustang nameplate races in 29 series, 17 countries and five continents.
The new car makes its competitive debut during Daytona Speedweeks, Feb. 13–21, and its first race is the 69th Daytona 500 on Feb. 21.
The unveiling opened a full day at Daytona that ended with the Veterans Day Classic on the road course, where Austin Cindric won for the Air Force in a final-laps duel with Robert Noaker, the driver who took Blaney’s seat in the Marines car after Blaney’s fall on Monday night. The 12 Ford drivers raced Mustang Dark Horse Rs split into teams for all six military branches, with proceeds going to military members, veterans and their families.