Skip to main content

The new Toyota Supra will go racing … but not where anyone expected

The revived Toyota Supra is one of the most hyped car launches of the decade, but no one could have predicted this. The new Supra will race in the NASCAR Xfinity Series beginning with the season-opening race in Daytona, Florida, on February 16, 2019.

The Toyota Supra has quite a racing pedigree, but this icon of Japanese performance has always been more Fast and the Furious than Ricky Bobby. It has never had any previous association with NASCAR; Toyota has only been racing since 2007, long after the Supra went out of production. Co-developed with BMW, the new Supra is expected to be a sports car more suited to road courses than NASCAR ovals.

At the same time, the Supra has more performance credibility than the Camry it will replace in NASCAR’s Xfinity Series, where Ford and Chevrolet field NASCAR versions of the Mustang and Camaro, respectively. NASCAR racers are also purpose built, with only badging and a thin veneer of exterior styling to tie them to the production models they’re supposed to represent. It doesn’t matter what badge is on the car, really.

Toyota didn’t relate any technical details, but racing rules mean the Supra will feature a NASCAR-specific V8 engine and chassis design. A press release said Toyota Racing Development and the automaker’s U.S. Calty design studio “scaled the Supra to fit within NASCAR’s specifications for race vehicle entries” in the Xfinity Series. Thanks to the NASCAR racer and the recent GR Supra concept car, we have a decent idea of what the new Supra will look like, but other details are scarce.

The Xfinity Series is NASCAR’s second-tier series, sitting below the Monster Energy Cup Series in prestige. Toyota will continue running the Camry in the Cup Series. Since Cup Series cars are generally a bit faster than their Xfinity Series counterparts, the Camry might actually outperform the Supra — likely the only time that will ever be the case. Toyota will also keep running the Tundra pickup truck in NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series. Yup, NASCAR has a race series for pickup trucks.

Meanwhile, Toyota announced via Twitter that the road-going version of the new Supra will appear at the 2018 Goodwood Festival of Speed in the U.K. The festival runs July 12-15, but Toyota hasn’t specified a date for the appearance. It’s also unclear whether the car will be fully revealed, or whether Toyota will bring a camouflaged prototype.

Editors' Recommendations

Stephen Edelstein
Stephen is a freelance automotive journalist covering all things cars. He likes anything with four wheels, from classic cars…
Exclusive: Papadakis tells us the parts he needs to make a 1000 horsepower Supra
paradais racing interview plans for 1000hp new supra sup  07607 02engineremoval 0125

Award-winning engine builder Stephan Papadakis set out to wrest 1,000 horsepower out of the new Toyota-BMW B58 engine found in the 2020 Toyota Supra. In the first episode of a four-part series, Papadakis showed us the initial engine removal and complete teardown. In the second episode he focused on how the engine makes its power, and he showed us the upgrades he was making to the engine’s internal parts.

Now in the just-dropped third episode, Papadakis shows us how he assembles a high performance racing engine, and what he did to make this engine ready for the dyno. We caught up with him after he finished the assembly and asked him to tell us about his work so far.

Read more
Hyundai Veloster N ETCR will compete in a new all-electric race series
hyundai electric race car 2019 frankfurt motor show veloster n etcr

Previous

Next

Read more
Exclusive: 1000 hp Supra could be six-figure project Papadakis says
1000hp Supra Stephan Papadakis

The all-new 2020 Toyota Supra is getting its fair share of attention from the industry press and the enthusiast community. Starting around $50,000, the Supra is undercutting competitors such as the Porsche 718 Cayman and the Audi TT RS.

The Supra B56 engine was a joint venture with BMW, and the twin-scroll turbocharged inline six-cylinder is officially rated at 335 horsepower and 365 pound-feet of torque. However, those figures may be significantly understated. Toyota says the Supra will hit 60 MPH in 4.1 seconds, but Car & Driver magazine measured the acceleration at 3.8 seconds.

Read more