PEOPLE GET A CLOSER LOOK AT SUPRA AT DAYTONA

[Mark-x]

Among the many displays crowding the huge expanse of Daytona International Speedway in the week leading up to NASCAR’s Daytona 500 is one from Toyota. And among all the cars on display, one was surprisingly not getting much attention Saturday morning: A 2020 Supra, clad in red and stickered up like a pace car. For those who did notice it, there was quite a buzz.

The much-anticipated Supra made its debut a few weeks ago at the Detroit Auto Show.  It was also seen at Barrett-Jackson, when the first production model was sold for charity shortly after. Saturday, the new NASCAR Xfinity version made its on-track debut and finished third in its first race.

This week an early production model was among the Toyota vehicles being displayed on Daytona’s midway.

his is an early prototype, a similar one to the one that was at Barrett Jackson,” Ed Laukes, group VP of marketing at Toyota, said.

The new models won’t be in showrooms until late March. But for those fans lucky enough to be at Daytona this week, the new Supra could be seen up close and in person for the first time for the general public.

“We think we're drawing a lot of attention,” Laukes said.  “It’s been 22 years since we've had Supra, and people have been asking for Supra to come back, and we worked really hard to get it back, and now it's back.”

While there may not have been a huge crowd around it prior to the Xfinity race Saturday, those who did look the Supra over seemed genuinely excited to finally see in person one of the most iconic sports cars in history as it gets one step closer to returning to showrooms.