Ford‘s NASCAR Cup Series challenger will receive a facelift for the 2024 season as the company introduces the Ford Mustang Dark Horse. It is based on the Mustang Dark Horse production car revealed in 2022, replacing the Mustang GT.
The Mustang Dark Horse is part of the seventh generation in the long-running Mustang line; unlike its predecessors, the Dark Horse is a performance-based model, the first for the Mustang since 2001. The racing-specific Dark Horse R is capable of competing in GT3 and GT4 categories and is used as the base for Ford’s Supercars Championship and Formula Drift divisions.
“If she gallops as fast as she looks, it’s going to be a good year,” RFK Racing owner/driver Brad Keselowski stated. “Mustang is an iconic American car made famous around the world. I think of how Mustang has evolved over the years and how NASCAR has evolved along with it and they’re just two brands that go together. I’m proud to get to drive it and proud to be able to compete for the win in this car.”
Perhaps the most notable trait on the Dark Horse is the flared front fenders, which when coupled with the flatter nose is intended to provide improved aerodynamics when drafting. Such modifications help Ford stand out from their rivals at Chevrolet and Toyota, which can be tricky to pull off due to the strict regulations of the Next Gen car.
“Where you are within that box is still important,” commented Ford Performance motorsport head Mark Rushbrook. “Repositioning as you can to truly optimise that, every little bit of performance counts. But there’s also a lot of performance that simply isn’t characterised in that submission process of how the cars are truly race on these variety of tracks, as well as trade-off decisions that are made in terms of drag versus downforce.
“It’s hard to make improvements in both, we certainly did in this case, but in our ’23 car, maybe some of our trade-offs weren’t in the optimal place that you could see. We were really strong on superspeedways, and that hurt the performance a little bit on the intermediate tracks. So being able to reposition where we are in the box is an important step for us, as well as optimising some of the detailed racing conditions to make sure we’re the most competitive in all those situations.”
Ford hopes the new Mustang can revitalise their Cup programme, which is set to finish last in the manufacturer’s championship with just eight wins. Even winning the season finale at Phoenix on Sunday will not be enough to push them past Toyota’s ten.
Team Penske‘s Ryan Blaney and RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher each have three wins, while Michael McDowell and Joey Logano added one apiece. Despite the dismal win count, Ford can still end the year on a high note as Blaney is their lone representative in the Championship Round.
Toyota also intends to reveal a new car body for 2024. Chevrolet has not indicated their plans for their title defence as the Camaro line is set to be discontinued.
