When Ford introduced the 2013 Fusion back in January, nobody expected the shapely and sexy body style to make the transition to NASCAR without losing its looks. But Ford proved us, and the rest of the journalism world wrong by introduced a 2013 Fusion NASCAR that looks a lot like the actual production car.

How did hey do it? This video from Ford Racing shows that it took a lot of time and testing in the wind tunnel using a scale model. Check out this video to see how they did it.

The shift from clearly-not-stock cars used in NASCAR back to vehicles that look more like the production cars they are supposed to represent is a major shift for the world’s most popular motorsport. Aerodynamics plays a huge role in the speed and acceleration of these cars though, so keeping the Fusion’s shape and look while remaining competitive was a tall order.

Ford’s chief aerodynamics engineer Bernie Marcus was tasked with this, and he did it using a scale model of the Fusion NASCAR. Not only does this save time and money, but the results are comparable to the full-size car. Once they have the shapes picked out, they build and test a full-size model…but the scale model makes testing a lot easier.

It’s a cool video for anybody who is into NASCAR, and it gives the rest of us hope that this most American of motorsports is returning to its roots as an association of stock car racing.