Seven months have passed since Toyota unveiled the competition version of its new Supra at Daytona International Speedway.
On Saturday, the car will make its much-anticipated debut at the iconic track in the NASCAR Racing Experience 300 Xfinity Series race (2:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Fans got a good look at the fifth-generation production version of the Supra last month at the Detroit Motor Show. On Saturday, they’ll find out how well the car races in its maiden season.
Those of you that were following Barrett Jackson (auctions), you saw that the first Supra that’s actually going to come off the assembly line sold at Barrett Jackson for charity for $2.1 million,” said Ed Laukes, group vice president of marketing for Toyota Motors North America.
“If that’s any indication about the Supra coming back into the market after not being around for 22 years, it’s a very exciting time for us at Toyota, very exciting time to have us at Daytona.”
Laukes appeared on Friday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway with Joe Gibbs and Bob Leavine, two car owners who will carry the Toyota banner in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series this season.
With NASCAR already discussing plans for a Generation-7 Cup car with its OEMs, will the Supra replace the Camry and join the Cup series in 2021 to compete with Ford’s Mustang and Chevrolet’s Camaro?
Laukes demurred.
“We’ve talked about that for a while,” he said. “We’re still… unlike some of the other manufacturers, we’re still in the car business, and we plan on staying in the car business for a while.
“Camry and Corolla are still a big part of our company. So, at this point, we don’t have any plans to bring Supra up to Cup, but you never know.”
Long before that decision is made, Gibbs will try to win a third Daytona 500 (2:30 p.m. ET Sunday on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Gibbs got his first with Dale Jarrett in 1993 and had to wait another 23 years for Denny Hamlin to deliver the second.
Former Joe Gibbs Racing president J.D. Gibbs, who died last month at age 49 from a neurological disease, was a tire changer for Jarrett’s winning car. Hamlin hopes to win a second Daytona 500 and dedicate the victory to his former boss.
But that will be a tall order, as Gibbs knows only too well.
“I used to kid people… I talked to them for a while there, we won the Daytona 500 once, and we’ve been here about 24 times,” Gibbs said. “I’d say, sooner or later, come on, a blind hog finds an acorn every now and then, come on, give me one. To win it twice… but you think about it, we’ve won twice in 27 tries.
“So it’s extremely hard. So much can happen. And everybody here, I think that’s the exciting thing for our fans. If you’re coming off (Turn) 4, OK? We’ve come off of 4 I don’t know how many times leading, and we haven’t won the race.
“So everybody is excited about it. Everybody realizes that that can happen at the Daytona 500. It’s a thrill to win it for sure, but it’s extremely hard to win.”
Leavine is new to Toyota this year, having switched from Chevrolet, but he expects Leavine Family Racing to enjoy a strong season with driver Matt DiBenedetto and an affiliation with JGR.
“The transition was and is very intense,” Leavine said. “It’s also exciting for Leavine Family Racing. Both of these organizations have assisted in the transition. Unless you’ve been there, you have no idea the technical portion that goes on, and I stand back, I’m kind of operation and not marketing-related, and I enjoy the operation and to watch what Coach’s people have helped our people do, and Toyota and TRD. What they have done is truly amazing, over the time period that we had.
“Our people worked really hard with theirs, and together we got a car on the track, and they’re working hard for our West Coast Swing, Atlanta, so the transition has gone exceptionally well, considering what we had to go through—a lot of communication—and both of these organizations here were on top of everything we needed and provided for it.”
