iRacing is busy working with the new Sprint Cup Series car that is coming to NASCAR in 2013. The car is so new, iRacing is building them in lock-step as the data becomes available to real-world teams for testing. The current goal is to have the car available starting March 5th, which is 4 weeks into iRacing Season 1.
Links: Car Content News Page | New Build Updates Page | Chevy SS Screenshot
iRacing has opted to start the season late for series that use the Impala A, having an 8 week season with 2 drop weeks. iRacing will also delay the start of the NASCAR iRacing Drivers World Championship Series a couple weeks so that it can begin with the new car. The new NASCAR event series featuring the cup car that mirrors the real-world cup series for the entire season will delay as well. The Daytona 500 World Tour Event will still run with the old car. With the introduction of Ford to iRacing’s NASCAR stable, the series will be setup as a single class, multi-car series. The new cars are the Ford Fusion and Chevy SS. The Chevy SS will release first, hopefully during the last week of February, with the Ford Fusion to follow shortly thereafter, estimated two weeks after the Chevy. The current plan is to sell both cars at normal prices of $11.95. iRacing does plan to send out $6 credits to anyone who owns the old cup car and $11.95 to anyone who purchased it in the last 90 days to apply toward the purchase of the new Chevy SS or Ford Fusion. If you want to own both cars, members will purchase the other at the normal $11.95. While you do not need to own both cars to race in official iRacing series, both cars would be required in hosted sessions.
UPDATE: With the 2013 Season 1 Build, members are no longer required to own every car in a multi-class session in hosted sessions.