From Jayski.com . . .

Ford Taurus in 2005, Fusion in 2006: Ford is expected to continue racing the Taurus in NASCAR for 2005, though that car will be relegated largely to fleets, as the 2005 Ford Five Hundred sedan becomes the company's focus for the passenger-car market. Ford will not race the Five Hundred, but is expected to race the 2006 Ford Fusion, a Taurus-sized sedan based on the Mazda6 platform. That car was originally called the Ford Futura, but Pep Boys, the parts supplier, used the Futura name for its line of tires, and Ford and Pep Boys could not come to an agreement, even though the Futura name was used by Ford for a Falcon model. Ford already uses the name "Fusion" in Europe.(Orlando Sentinel). The change to Fusion will go hand-in-hand with the 'car of tomorrow' being designed and tested by NASCAR.(10-9-2004)


EDIT:
If/when Toyota enters the Nextel Cup, would it make sense for Ford to enter the Mazda 6 to combat Toyota . . in terms of Japanese entries?

 

Toyota won't enter for a LONG time because there isn't much support for japanese based cars in NASCAR.

heck they might not even join, it's tride and true an American sport and I know NASCAR would loose A LOT of money if that happened.

 

Actually, they're already in the craftsman Truck series and have a protoype for a Busch Car running already. My guess is they'll hit Busch in 06 and Nextell Cup in 07 or 08

Good info on the Fusion. Considering Dodge has been running a body based on a non-existent car all year, i'm surprised this is even an issue. Just call 'em Fod, Dodge, and Chevy, give 'em unique decals, and let the manufacturers decide how they want to market 'em.