Toyota hopes hybrid pace car will accelerate sales
Acceleration was an important feature in winning approval for the vehicle, which will become the first hybrid used as a pace car for the duration of a Cup event (a 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid led the field to the green flag in the 2008 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway before yielding to a 2010 Ford Fusion Sport).
From a standing start at the pit exit in Turn 1, the 187-horsepower, four-cylinder Camry (which wasn't modified from the street model that retails for about $33,000 and gets an EPA-estimated 33 miles a gallon) had to reach 100 mph by the exit of Turn 2 to satisfy NASCAR's standards for pacing the 600-mile event, the longest on the 36-race Cup schedule.
Ed Laukes, manager for motor sports marketing at Toyota Motor Sales USA, said the approval process took about a year and included an on-track test Toyota passed with flying colors.
Hybrids have competed in the American Le Mans Series. Laukes said Toyota has interest in eventually racing them in NASCAR.
"I know it's a ways away, but I wouldn't be surprised down the road sometime if there's hybrid technology in a race," he said. More at USA Today