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<\/a><\/p>\nSpeedcafe can reveal Supercars investigated the viability of including a NASCAR demonstration as part of the Gold Coast 500.<\/p>\n
The plan was first hatched ahead of the 2025 event before a renewed effort to secure the coup this year.<\/p>\n
Supercars\u2019 strategic advisor Shane Howard and strategy\/growth officer Mark Pejic recently met with NASCAR officials and teams in the United States.<\/p>\n
The duo visited the Charlotte and Nashville races as part of a broader bid to strengthen ties with the American league.<\/p>\n
However, they had hoped to secure a demo for the GC500, initially targeting six cars with the hope of growing to 12 the following year, spread evenly between manufacturers.<\/p>\n
Ford, General Motors and Toyota all compete in both series \u2013 a synergy Supercars is keen to capitalise on.<\/p>\n
The plan was intended to feature retired NASCAR stars rather than current racers due to the demanding US schedule.<\/p>\n
Although receiving some support from teams and OEMs, the fact the Gold Coast event occurs during the all-important NASCAR Chase is believed to have effectively scuppered the idea.<\/p>\n
Supercars isn\u2019t giving up on the concept, though, with the Adelaide Grand Final \u2013 which takes place after the NASCAR season \u2013 a possible future home for the concept.<\/p>\n
While unable to discuss the NASCAR race plan with Speedcafe, Howard confirmed Supercars\u2019 desire to work more closely with NASCAR.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re strengthening our relationship with NASCAR,\u201d Howard said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of synergies and cross-pollination between both our sports \u2013 obviously we\u2019re running the same OEMs that NASCAR are running.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there are stronger relationships between NASCAR teams and our teams just through being involved with the same OEMs.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/RGP-2018-Vodafone-GoldCoast-600-Sun-a94w2292.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Scott McLaughlin drove the Team Penske Ford Fusion in 2018. Image: Ross Gibb<\/p>\n
Howard noted the relationship between the two series stretches back several years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had a good relationship with NASCAR, particularly with (NASCAR event management boss) John Probst,\u201d said Howard.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe came to Tailem Bend [in 2018] when they were developing their NextGen car and we had a very open and transparent relationship with them then.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey adopted some things into their new car, which are similar to us, which is a transaxle, pedal box, single spindle, et cetera. We\u2019ve just progressed it from then.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve helped us out enormously when we took our cars to the [wind] tunnel for the first time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey had their top aerodynamicist there with us and (Supercars\u2019 CFD partner) Dynamique and our teams.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey wanted to be there because these guys love what we\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey understand the difficulties that you have achieving parity with different body styles, completely different engines in architecture, capacity.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s pretty complex to get that right, but they\u2019re very respectful of where we\u2019ve got the sport to, on all those parameters.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Howard-Pejic.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Shane Howard with Mark Pejic. Image: InSyde Media<\/p>\n
Howard suggested the synergies between the series extend beyond technical matters.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe think there\u2019s benefit in working together collaboratively, understanding what we\u2019re doing and sharing information,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not only technically, but to our fan bases, there are a lot of similarities there as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just a valuable exercise. We value their advice and their input and likewise, us in return.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re just learning all the time and I think it\u2019s just a great relationship to have and we welcome it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A single-car NASCAR demo at the Gold Coast 500 in 2018. Image: Ross Gibb Speedcafe can reveal Supercars…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":747577,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,139867,806,805,803,804,12357,85],"class_list":["post-747576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-gold-coast-500","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-slot1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=747576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/747577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=747576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=747576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=747576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Supercars](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/RGP-2018-Vodafone-GoldCoast-600-Fri-a94w5752.jpg\")