Chevy's Camaro finally ready to take on Ford's Mustang in NASCAR, in 2013. But why didn't GM put it out on the Indy track?

Fresh out of Richard Childress' race shop, the 2013 NASCAR Camaro

    (Updated)

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net


   INDIANAPOLIS
   So it will be Chevy's Camaro versus Ford's Mustang on NASCAR's Nationwide tracks in 2013 after all.

   Finally.
   After considerable pressure, General Motors' Chevy men Thursday unveiled their 2013 NASCAR Nationwide car as the Camaro.

   However GM is still offering no look at its 2013 Sprint Cup SS.
   When Ford, in late 2009, rolled out a NASCAR version of the Mustang for the 2010 Nationwide series, to much fanfare, the question quickly became 'Okay, now where's the Chevy  Camaro?'
   Visions of turning the Nationwide tour into a muscle-car series -- flash back to the glorious Trans-Am days -- were rampant.
   Until Chevrolet execs threw cold water on the concept by insisting on keeping the Impala as its NASCAR badge. Chevy insisted then that NASCAR wouldn't give it enough 'design cues' to make a NASCAR Camaro a viable project.
   Ironically, during the summer of '09 NASCAR teams were busy building just such a prototype NASCAR Nationwide Camaro, behind closed doors. But suddenly, for no apparently reason, that project was mothballed.
   Ford officials clearly felt back then that they could get enough 'design cues' to market the Mustang via NASCAR.
   And Chevy officials never have clearly explained why their company's reluctance to jump into something that certainly seemed a no-brainer marketing project.
   However Chevrolet adamantly refused to make the move.
   Chevrolet did however package a racing Camaro for the Grand Am sports car series, where it has been running. And Chevy racing boss Jim Campbell had both the Grand Am Camaro (running in Friday's race here on the F1 course) and the new 2013 NASCAR Camaro here for side-by-side comparison.
   Why did it take GM and Chevrolet nearly three years now to make this easy marketing call?

   NASCAR executives asked Chevrolet in mid-2009 to bring the Camaro into the Nationwide series, but Chevy officials said no.

  
 
    Chevy's Camaro, the Grand Am sports car version, on the track at Watkins Glen. Maybe a Nationwide Camaro should be on the track at the Glen too (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)