MOTORSPORT: The Toyota Supra is now a NASCAR

With the impending return of the Supra, it was only inevitable that Toyota would announce its official participation in some form of motorsport. Well, the first one is here, before the car has even launched. We just didn’t expect it to be NASCAR. SuperGT, D1GP, or Formula D? Sure, those would make sense, but oddly enough after looking into it the connection isn’t that bizarre.

It turns out that the Supra will compete in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, which functions as sort of a minor league to the NASCAR Cup Series. The bush league cars are actually the more interesting models, if only in name — after all, in both leagues the cars use templated bodies that only vaguely resemble the road cars they’re supposedly representing.

In Xfinity, Ford, Chevy and Dodge use Mustang, Camaro, and Challenger bodies, so the Supra is in good company with its fellow coupes. Underneath the skin they’re running V6 engines, as opposed to the Cup cars’ V8s. Since the Supra is and has always been a six-cylinder car — albeit an inline-six — it makes slightly more sense than at first glance. [Correction: the series now uses detuned V8s] At least, it make more sense than the Cup cars, which feature RWD, V8-powered Camrys, Impalas, and Fusions.

Because of the rules, though, the Supra ends up looking like a set of FT-1 headlights grafted onto a sedan body. So, if you ever wanted to know what a Supra sedan looks like, NASCAR’s got you covered. Or, you can just get yourself a Chaser/Mark II/Cresta.

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15 Responses to MOTORSPORT: The Toyota Supra is now a NASCAR

  1. cesariojpn says:

    “So, if you ever wanted to know what a Supra sedan looks like, NASCAR’s got you covered. Or, you can just get yourself a Chaser/Mark II/Cresta.”

    Or get a Lexus IS300.

  2. BlitzPig says:

    Meh.

    Just meh.

    A tube frame, live axle, template body spec racer.

    Come on Toyota, your target audience for the Supra don’t care one bit about NASCAR.

    Please give us the cool cars that you keep for yourself in Japan.

    • Ant says:

      I dunno, in some ways it could be quite a clever way of marketing the Supra to people who might not otherwise consider it.

      Let’s face it, marketing is wasted on someone who already wants the product in question. Might as well try and snare a few new customers.

  3. Selleeka says:

    Looks like a Dodge with some Toyota decals.

  4. Robbie says:

    Xfinity cars haven’t run V6’s since the 90s. They run the same V8’s as Cup cars, detuned.

  5. *in NASCAR office*
    CEO: We tried road races and shorter races, How do we appeal to Millennials?
    PR Guy 1: What if we stuck a Supra name onto one of our sedan bodys but make it in an televised V6 series for continuity purposes? After millennials don’t watch TV anyway.
    PR Guy 2: What if we used cars based off stock chassis or raced in inclement weather like F1?
    CEO: …
    PR Guy 1: …
    CEO: You’re fired PR Guy 2.

  6. XRaider says:

    meanwhile supra-related the supra will unveil at the goodwood festival of speed next week

  7. Mike in Long Beach says:

    Let’s hope the production street legal Supra can turn right. [/cheap_shot]

  8. ahja says:

    FFS. I effing hate Nascar with their headlight stickers and fugly bodies and ….everything. Just shame on Toyota.

  9. Speedie says:

    I agree with many of the comments that this is a meh idea. None of my friends that follow NASCAR are ever going to buy a Supra. Unless Toyota has data showing that Camry sales were directly increased by running its name in NASCAR I don’t see the logic.

  10. james says:

    Hell no!,I envision the new Supra fighting the world’s best on tracks full of challenging high speed twists and turns, not some oval. It just seems a waste of time and money to put it in NASCAR.

  11. Alan says:

    Bring a Trailer featured a NASCAR this week, and the headline went something like “Ford to Dodge swap.”

    All it takes to make a Toyota Supra NASCAR are a few Toyota Supra stickers, the exact same way you turn a Ford Fusion “stock” car into a Dodge… something. I’m not here to disparage NASCAR racing, which can be really exciting, but this thing is no more a Supra than a Chevy Suburban with a Supra windshield banner.

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