Toyota’s revival of its Supra sports car will involve entry into NASCAR, according to a recent report.
The news surfaced in Sports Business Journal, whose sources claim that Toyota will enter a Supra silhouette stock car for the 2019 season of the NASCAR Xfinity series.
Toyota’s current stock car is a Camry lookalike, though akin to all current stock cars, it has next to nothing in common with its road car counterpart. This trend would presumably continue with the introduction of the Supra, which is speculated online to be an entry in response to tanking demand for sedans.
The Supra is not reported to be a Monster Energy Cup series competitor, and it’s unclear whether it will entirely supersede the current Camry stock car.
Body style swaps in favor of sports cars have rapidly become common among manufacturers involved in NASCAR.
Chevrolet launched its Camaro ZL1 stock car at the start of this year’s NASCAR Monster Energy Cup series, displacing the SS sedan.
Ford is set to answer General Motors’ deployment of the Camaro with the appearance of the Mustang as a stock car in the 2019 NASCAR Monster Energy Cup series for the car’s first-ever appearance in NASCAR. The Mustang body, like the Camaro’s, will replace the body of a sedan that will no longer be produced by its parent company, the Fusion in this case, amid Ford’s abandonment of sedans in the states.
The Drive contacted Toyota for comment on the claims of Sports Business Journal, but the company declined to comment, dismissing the report as speculative.
“This story is purely speculation and we have not confirmed or announced anything at this time. We have no further comment.”