http://www.speedtv.com/articles/nascar/busch/40293/

BUSCH: Pony Cars Coming To Series
Written by: Tom Jensen
Loudon, N.H. – 9/15/2007

NASCAR hopes to inject new life into its Busch Series by changing the types of cars raced, beginning as early as 2009, according to multiple sources familiar with the project.

If plans go according to schedule, the next-generation Busch Series cars will be Chevrolet Camaros, Dodge Challengers, Ford Mustangs and an as-yet-to-be named Toyota model, sources said. Ford overhauled the Mustang as a 1960s-retro model in 2005, to positive critical and commercial results. Chevrolet and Dodge will release similarly retro-themed Camaros and Challengers, respectively, by the 2009 model year.

The Mustang, Camaro and Challenger all are two-door coupes with rear-wheel drive and available V-8 engines, a hugely popular combination in the halcyon days of 1960s muscle cars. A switch to these cars – plus whichever model Toyota chooses to campaign – would make a huge amount of sense, as it would help the NASCAR Busch Series have its own distinct identity apart from Nextel Cup and help remove the stigma of the series as “Cup Lite,” as some call it now.

“That way, out top three divisions each have their own models,” said a NASCAR source, who said the new models will be built on the old-style NASCAR Nextel Cup chassis, which are in plentiful supply as the Cup Car of Tomorrow will make the older Cup cars obsolete next year.

Currently, the four automakers who compete in both the Busch and Cup series use cars that are either identical or of the same class of cars. Fords runs the Fusion and Toyota the Camry in both series, while Dodge uses the Charger in Busch and the Avenger in Cup, and Chevy campaigns Monte Carlos in Busch and Impala SS models in Cup.

The Busch Series has been something of a dichotomy in recent years. On one hand, NASCAR claims it’s the second-most popular form of auto racing in America, but on the other hand it’s lost some of its uniqueness as the Busch have become more populated by Nextel Cup regulars and less by young drivers looking to work their way up to Nextel Cup.

Sources familiar with the project said NASCAR has discussed the idea of switching cars with the manufacturers and has received a positive reception for the idea.

Ummmm......anyone else think this is a weird move? They are becoming one of those retro american muscle car series

Still I do feel that the NBS should be a little more distinct from the Cup. Although the CoT and the Busch stock are still quite different enough so I still dont quite know what warrants this change.

Not weird. Back in the day, Busch was a 6-cylinder series. I wish they would go back to that. :-\

Cheers,
Matt.

Donno just sounds like its giving it new life, i hope it works but who knows could be good or bad. Hopefully good for some bad for others and great for the majority.

sounds kinda cool to me

nascar stopped being cool when they deviated way too far from the "stock car"

I just want my new camaro naow though

It's strange.
the nextel cup uses avengers and fusions, but the busch series uses stangs and chargers.
Now, the road models of busch cars are more powerful to the ones of cup cars......iirc the cup cars have more powerful engines, but the chassis is/was the same.

IMO they should go back to cars derived from roadcars and the busch ones should be significantly less powerful than cup cars (6 cylinder, anyone?).
Only then i could see a point in nascar racing...

EDIT: i personally would like cars technically similar to australians v8 supercars, derived from stock ones.

I'm with you Fabri91. I wish for a day when you can take off the manufacturer decals and be able to say:"Hey there's a Chevy, and there's a Toyota". The cars are more of a joke right now. I mean the cup cars are slower then the trucks. That's like having GP2 being faster then F1. It just makes no sense to me. I hope that they won't screw up the pony cars in Busch. If we wont be able to tell between a Camaro and a Challenger... it's going to be a sad, sad day.

Bring back the ACTUAL 60's muscle cars

Makes perfect sense to me. The teams running in Nextel will have literally hundereds of cars to get rid of, instead of pumping them into the local short-track scene they are being put to good use with different body shells on them. They will remain the same cars, but different bodywork. Making the Bush series a very cheapish division to run in, until the cars run out that is.

There isn't much of a difference now between the car makes. the bodies are nothing like their real life counterparts. Running a different skin is not going to change that =P They all produce about the same hp and torque. There are subtle differences in the areo, but cup cars now are nothing like they are in their every day counterparts. It's all about marketing now more than anything. Sure it says Dodge, or Chevy on it, but you could take an RX7, put a few pieces of bodykit on it and call it a Viper. Anyways this is going OT =P It's a good move to bring the cup cars to bush, but the problem will now be making them slower than the COT cars, least IMO they should be. Chances are they would put restrictors on them to limit them to something like 600 HP or so.

There only shells arn't they so really it has no resemblence what so ever to the road versions, the sedan based Nextel cup cars are 2 door anyway so whats going to be the difference..

btw this coming from someone who hasn't watched an Nascar race for over 3 years..

Quote from Mustafur :

There only shells arn't they so really it has no resemblence what so ever to the road versions, the sedan based Nextel cup cars are 2 door anyway so whats going to be the difference..

btw this coming from someone who hasn't watched an Nascar race for over 3 years..

I thought nascars had sealed doors = 0 doors.
And how can the trucks be faster? They should be aerodynamic shit.

IF the bodyshells start resembling actual cars i'd be fine...or put it like DTM, the shape is that of a stock car, they even use headlights...

Yeah no doors =P If you see one of these cars in RL they are nothing like a real car on the road.

i thing it would be cool to have the new versions of the camaro's and the others

Quote from DieKolkrabe :

Bring back the ACTUAL 60's muscle cars

Fo shizzle!! Winged warrior ftw!!!!