Ford Reveals Mustang Mach-E NASCAR Prototype To Show Series’ Future With Electric SUVs

NASCAR is testing electric crossovers. Did you know that? Don’t shoot the messenger if you didn’t. The sanctioning body rolled out a 1,300-horsepower prototype in July 2024 to show what’s possible with the tech, but it was met with the exact response you’d expect. That was a NASCAR-branded test mule with a generic face and bodywork, though, and what we’re looking at here is a Ford Mustang Mach-E racer that’s seemingly very close to what the Blue Oval could actually run in the Cup Series if NASCAR drops the current formula.

I’m not sure anybody wants that, but this high-powered prototype exists anyway. Ford says it’s a demonstrator vehicle, much like the SuperVan 4.2 and Super Cobra Jet 1800 from recent years. That means it isn’t a machine built to specific regulations, though it does have some things in common with the current Mustang Dark Horse racing in the Cup Series. The 78-kWh battery, three motors, and full carbon fiber tub are unique to this tester, but it borrows the Cup car’s suspension, brakes, steering system, and wheels.

If this were racing in almost any other discipline, I would think it’s sick. As much as we all love to hate crossovers, the prototype here looks more like a race-spec hot hatch since it’s low, wide, and only a two-door. The big wing out back really pulls it together and I’d be all in if Ford said this was a touring car built for some IMSA support series.

But it’s not a touring car—it’s a NASCAR prototype, one that could displace the V8 coupes we’ve known all our lives. I promise I’m not some old-head who wants to stay in the Stone Age but it feels like NASCAR makes less sense as an electric racing league than any other. It’s almost like saying NHRA Top Fuel dragsters should ditch the nitro-methane because batteries and brushless motors are quicker. They aren’t, but even if they were, would anyone care?

I’ll get off my soapbox now and reiterate that I’d love to see this Mustang Mach-E racing… somewhere, as long as it’s not Talladega or Bristol. Heck, even the Daytona road course would be sick, and I know it would be a hoot around tracks like Watkins Glen. But don’t make me think about a field of these lining up on Turn 4 for a restart with two laps to go, because that’s just sad.

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