Sporty new faces replacing four-door sedans in NASCAR
Toyota’s new Supra sports car won’t hit showrooms until next summer, but it will hit the racetrack a lot sooner, making its debut at Daytona Speedweeks in January, when it competes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Raceway in Florida.
This is big news for Toyota, which is bringing back the Supra name after an absence of more than two decades. Clearly, the automaker is looking to make a statement with the latest incarnation of its long-lost halo car.
Still, the NASCAR announcement was something of a surprise from Toyota, which has exclusively campaigned race versions of the Camry sedan in the NASCAR’s top-two divisions: the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series; and the Xfinity Series, the NASCAR equivalent of AAA baseball.
That said, the timing couldn’t be better for Toyota. Chevrolet replaced the SS sedan with the Camaro ZL1 in the Cup Series this season and in 2019, Ford Motor Co. will race the Mustang in Cup instead of the Fusion it has promoted since 2006. Ford, which already campaigns the Mustang in the Xfinity Series, introduced the 2019 Cup version in early August prior to the NASCAR race at Michigan International Speedway.
So all three manufacturers that race in NASCAR will have at least one car based on a twodoor street model in competition next season. Bear in mind that, other than new nose treatment, there are few physical differences between the Camry racecar and the upcoming Supra. Or the Mustang and Fusion. NASCAR strictly limits car specifications to be consistent across its various series.
The switch to the Mustang was not surprising, given Ford’s announcement earlier this year that it was phasing out almost all of its production cars except the Mustang.
The Toyota news was much more of an eye-opener given that the Supra undoubtedly will be a niche vehicle for the automaker, albeit one that will be a flagship for the brand, much like the Corvette is for Chevrolet.
“Anybody that’s a fan of cars (was) very happy to hear the name Supra and the Supra brand,” said David Wilson, president and general manger of TRD USA, Toyota’s racing division.
“It is an iconic brand. We haven’t seen the production variant of a Supra since 1998.”
Wilson said that he and Toyota officials were happy to get the unveiling out of the way, which they did at Daytona in early July.
“There’s a certain relief that comes with it initially,” Wilson said.
“That’s kind of the first reaction ... because it is a tremendous amount of pressure on our team, on all of the partners that are required to bring this to fruition. That’s been relieved now. We’re out in the open, and we can start celebrating the launch of Supra.”
Racing driver Kyle Busch, who has more race victories than any Xfinity driver, said he’ll be ready for the Supra when it arrives.
“It’s certainly a better or different, unique opportunity for us to be able to go out there and get a win other than a Camry and keep trying to keep Toyota strong on the racetrack.”
Ford’s logic for going with the Mustang is similar.
“When people hear Mustang, they automatically think of Ford,” said Mark Rushbrook, global director of the Ford Performance unit. “It’s a big nameplate for us, especially with how that car is performing around the world with global sales.”
And in the end, image and sales are what racecars are all about for automakers. While the old adage, “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday,” might not correlate as strongly as it did a generation or two ago when NASCAR racing was based on factory models, without question, Toyota, Ford and General Motors all see value in competing in NASCAR.