For the first time ever, a NASCAR Sprint Cup event will be paced by a hybrid, Ford's fresh-faced 2010 Fusion Hybrid to be exact. The race is scheduled to take place this Sunday at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. The box-stock Fusion hybrid will be able to travel on electricity alone for up to 47 miles per hour, which isn't quite fast enough to kick off the race, so this one will be burning some gas. One thing that the hybrid can do that the Sprint Cup cars only wish they could is travel up to 700 miles per tank of fuel. Anyway, the leafy-camouflaged hybrid will lead the race cars to the green flag (waved by none other than Mark Fields) to kick things off, after which a 2010 Ford Fusion Sport will pick up the mantle as pace car for the rest of the event.

Both the 2010 Fusion hybrid and Fusion Sport will see their formal debut at the LA Auto Show on the 19th. Both models are new for '10, with the hybrid posting a rumored best-in-class fuel mileage of at least 38 mpg in the city, while its Sport sibling gets Ford's new 3.5-liter V6 engine producing 263 hp and 249 lb-ft of torque. Best of all, every Fusion model will come standard with a six-speed automatic.