The lore of NASCAR is filled with stories of backyard mechanics taking cars right off the showroom floor and winning races, fame, and glory with nearly stock cars. This is why NASCAR is called “stock car” racing after all. However, since the late 1980s, the cars have become less and less related to the showroom cousins. For 2013, Ford is trying to mend that gap, at least aesthetically, with their new 2013 Fusion racer.

Taking its cues from the production Fusion that debuted at the North American International Auto Show, the new Fusion race car adapts the cars dramatic headlight and grill treatment. To make the car look even more “stock,” the overall proportions of the stock car were mirrored. Even the character line that runs down the stock car’s side was replicated on the racer.

All of this may seem inconsequential, but in a race where a few millimeters on a spoiler’s rake can dramatically affect your finishing position, it is a big risk to change the cars body like Ford has. Rest assured that the proper adjustments were made to make sure this car is still race ready.

The changes to make the NASCAR version more similar to the production version are only skin deep though. Like every other NASCAR car, the Fusion racer will be rear-wheel drive with a big V-8 up front. No Ecoboost engine the race version, unfortunately. How sweet would that be if Ford could enter an AWD Fusion with an Ecoboost V6 in a few of the NASCAR circuit races, a’ la Aussie Supercar Racing, though?

Pipe dreams aside, get ready to see the new Fusion NASCAR contender this February in the season opener at Daytona.