Chevrolet which first introduced the Impala back in 1957 as a 1958 model, will continue its winning tradition that dates back to the days of racing on the sand at Daytona Speedway.
The Impala, which was also Chevrolets flagship passenger vehicle will be making its NNS debut in July of next season at Daytona International Speedway, followed by three more appearances in 2010 at Michigan International Speedway, Richmond International Raceway and Charlotte Motor Speedway.
GM's choosing of the Impala over the new body style Camaro, came as somewhat of a surprise to the other manufacturers when they asked, “Where is the Camaro?” But instead of GM executives answering back with, “Here it is.“
Instead they opted to leave their newly more sportier designed baby out of the hands of NASCAR, because they didn’t want their car to have the same look as the others, which has been one the biggest complaints from the fans ever since the C.O.T. first came into the cup series.
Even though the Camaro’s immense popularity among the muscle car enthusiasts should have made it an easy choice for GM to bring it into the Nationwide series for 2011, not even that was enough to sway the executives decision to go ahead and make an exception.
NASCAR did allow the teams a few more nose and tail configurations to help distinguish the different makes, but once again GM still didn’t budge from racing the Impala full-time in the Nationwide series starting in 2011.
After hearing this statement from Pat Suhy who is GM’s racing NASCAR group manager, you have to wonder if this is GM‘s way of trying to bring back some of the popularity that will be lost with the Camaro making its much awaited return.
“Running Impala in both of NASCAR’s top-tier series will increase Chevrolet’s exposure to the loyal NASCAR fan-base and allow race fans the opportunity to more closely identify with the production car they find on the showroom floor of their local Chevy dealership.”
“GM Racing has worked closely with NASCAR on the rollout of the Impala as the new race car in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. I think our integrated approach in working with NASCAR on its new-generation race car has been valuable in helping them maximize the intent of the car with regard to the safety and performance aspects and, at the same time, value for us in gaining increased manufacturer identity with the Impala."
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