Yahoo Autos This Is the Toyota Supra That Will Race in NASCAR's Xfinity Series in 2019
Ahead of this weekend's race at Daytona International Speedway, Toyota has announced it will be bringing the new Supra to NASCAR's minor league Xfinity Series for the 2019 season, replacing the Camry. The new car will be built by TRD USA and Calty Design Research, borrowing styling cues from the Gazoo Racing Supra concept shown at Geneva in March 2018.
The Xfinity Supra wears a pointy-nose fascia and exterior lighting designs that originated with Toyota's 2014 FT1 concept. Of course, underneath, you'll find a NASCAR-spec tube-frame chassis, a carbureted pushrod V8, and a four-speed manual transmission. Really, this car is a Supra in name alone; NASCAR's standardized body template doesn't quite mimic the fastback shape of the Supra we expect to hit the streets soon.
Still, it's pretty damn cool to see the Supra name racing in America again. The last time Toyota's sports car went racing in the US was during the IMSA GT Series in the 1980s. It also made appearances in Japan's Super GT series and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the 1990s. Now, it's back.
Toyota's new Xfinity entry was designed from the ground up by Calty Design Research of Newport Beach, California alongside Toyota's North American racing division. Previously, Calty has built Toyota NHRA drag cars and Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series cars, so it's no stranger to building top-level race cars.
The Supra replaces the Camry, which has been fielded in the Xfinity Series since 2007, racking up four manufacturer titles and 142 wins in the process. Currently, four Xfinity teams use Toyota-branded cars. According to Toyota, it will keep the Camry for next year's top-level Monster Energy Series-there's no word on whether the Supra will eventually replace that car as well.
The new NASCAR Xfinity Series Supra will make its first on-track appearance on Feburary 16th, 2019 for the start of the season at Daytona. Hopefully we'll know more about the actual Supra road car by then.
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