For the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season, the Ford F-150 will sport a new look. On Thursday, Ford Performance revealed touchups for the F-150’s body to make it better resemble its street counterpart.
The most noticeable change on the new F-150 comes at the front, as the steel sheet metal hood is replaced with composite material (though the fender will stay steel). Development of the design came at the Ford Performance Technical Center in Concord, North Carolina, and the Ford design center in Dearborn, Michigan.
“We’re proud to be the first to show off our 2022 NASCAR truck today,” Ford Performance global director Mark Rushbrook stated. “The Ford F-150 is the pride of the Ford truck lineup so we’re glad to be able to update the race version to show off the dynamic front end styling that is truly F-150. We can’t wait for our teams to get on track with it next February in Daytona.”
Unlike rivals Chevrolet and Toyota, Ford maintains a fairly muted presence in the Truck Series with just two full-time teams in David Gilliland Racing and Front Row Motorsports, who field a combined three trucks for Hailie Deegan and Tanner Gray (DGR) and Todd Gilliland (FRM). Gilliland and DGR part-timer Ryan Preece have scored race wins for Ford in 2021 at COTA and Nashville, respectively; both races were special events as the former was the inaugural NASCAR’s inaugural foray at the Austin road course while the latter speedway was revived after a decade-long dormancy. Other teams to use the F-150 in 2021 include DCC Racing, NEMCO Motorsports, and Roper Racing.
Deegan, a Ford factory and development driver currently in her rookie year, débuted the new F-150 in a promotional video.
“It is great to have a new look for our NASCAR Truck Series F-150 starting next year,” commented Deegan. “The aggressive look of the nose and the other styling changes really mirror the production F-150 and in the process has helped improve some areas such as aerodynamics for us on the track starting next season.”
Ford has exclusively used the F-150 since the inaugural Truck season in 1995. The Blue Oval won the manufacturer’s championship in 1999 and 2000, while driver’s titles have come in 2000 with Greg Biffle and 2019 with Matt Crafton.