No, BMW Won’t Be Joining NASCAR
A letdown. A big, M8 GTE-sized letdown.
Over last day or so, BMW has unexpectedly become a hot topic in the stock car racing world, which speaks of the automaker as a possible new participant in NASCAR. Trite jokes about the Toyota GR Supra aside, the Bavarian marque's debut in NASCAR would mark a welcome return for the Germans, which were last represented in NASCAR 66 years ago by the Porsche 356. But a BMW Cup Series car isn't meant to be, as BMW has confirmed to The Drive that the social media post that set off this speculation bomb was merely a joke.
This hubbub started with a tweet by BMW USA, which responded to a request to "describe NASCAR racing in three words or less" with "better with BMW."
The above naturally whipped NASCAR fans into a frenzy, with many posting reaction .gifs, images of stock cars wearing the kidney grille, or best of all, photoshops of BMW's famously huge M8 GTE endurance race car inserted into Cup Series races.
This bubbling pot was then stirred by two-time NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race winner James Bickford (and cousin of Jeff Gordon), who tagged BMW in a video suggesting some sort of pending partnership.
It all looked too good to be true, and that's because it was.
When asked by The Drive if it was examining involvement in stock car racing in any capacity, a BMW spokesperson confirmed the company tweet to be mere trolling.
"Just a humorous tweet. No hidden meaning in this case," commented Oleg Satanovsky, BMW Product and Technology Spokesperson.
This will come as a disappointment to those who wanted to see another country represented in NASCAR, whose fields have always been mostly comprised of American cars. Then again, it's news that's sure to please the many who don't want to see BMW's bucktoothed new grille stretched out over another M4 race car.
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