Three-time NASCAR Cup champion Joey Logano says he knows there will be a learning curve with Ford Racing’s new Mustang, but he doesn’t expect it to take the entire season.
“I think it’ll be interesting to see how the first 10, 15 weeks go,” Logano said prior to Tuesday’s NASCAR Awards Ceremony in Miami. “I’m cautiously optimistic because I know there’s gonna be a period tuning it in, but I do think that overall, it should have more potential by the end of the day. I think by the second half of the season we should be in really good form, and I would think that we’d have a shot to win the whole thing again.”
Logano said he was “slightly” involved in the car’s development, sharing with the engineers and the crew chiefs what he believed should be incorporated into the car to make speed.
Ford unveiled its 2027 NASCAR entry Wednesday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway during its Proud to Honor Veterans Day Classic event. It will make its on-track debut during Daytona Speedweeks, February 13-21. The car is based on the production Mustang Dark Horse SC, which is equipped with a supercharged 5.2-liter V8 engine that makes up to 795 horsepower and 660 lb-ft of torque.
Ford Racing
“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, Ford Racing’s global director, said in a prepared statement. “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.”
Chief among that is an aggressive-looking nose that has been designed to optimize aerodynamics. In the passenger vehicle, that means increased cooling, while in the race car it creates more downforce.
Logano, who owns a Ford dealership in Mooresville, North Carolina, described the Mustang’s street version as “bad to the bone” and a “lot of fun to drive.”
Ford’s introduction of its new Mustang makes it the second straight year an OEM has introduced a new car in the Cup Series. Chevrolet introduced a new Camaro ZL1 for 2026, and it took until the season’s second half to get a handle on the car’s balance. Toyota’s current Toyota Camry XSE made its on-track debut in 2024. Dodge returns to NASCAR in 2027 and is scheduled to unveil its car in December 2026.
Ford’s Mustang racing fleet competes in 29 series in 17 countries on five continents.
A North Carolina native, Deb Williams is an award-winning motorsports journalist who is in her fourth decade covering auto racing. In addition to covering the sport for United Press International, she has written motorsports articles for several newspapers, magazines and websites including espnW.com, USA Today, and The Charlotte Observer. Her awards include the American Motorsports Media Award of Excellence, two-time National Motorsports Press Association writer of the year, and two-time recipient of the Russ Catlin award. She also has won an award in the North Carolina Press Association’s sports feature category. During her career, Deb has been managing editor of GT Motorsports magazine and was with Winston Cup Scene and NASCAR Winston Cup Scene for 18 years, serving as the publication’s editor for 10 years. In 2024 she was inducted into the NMPA Hall of Fame.