In NASCAR, the manufacturers are the ones who add soul to the body of the car. Be it development, design, or performance, all of this is done under watchful eyes. So whenever a NASCAR team adds a newly designed race car for the new season, there are several questions and speculations surrounding it. The same was the case with Toyota’s newly designed Camry XSE.

The new Camry XSE is built under the partnership of TRD and Calty Design. It includes the hammerhead styling from the front, along with slim and wide headlights. Surprisingly, the NASCAR community did not take the new design well and questioned the new car’s actual capability on the tracks. Addressing the concerns and doubts about the newly designed Camry XSE, TRD President David Wilson claimed that it’s the best body they’ve ever built.

How is the new Toyota Camry XSE going to be the best?

In general, all NASCAR cars are the same, with strict regulations and guidelines that need to be met by every team and manufacturer. However, companies are allowed to tweak how their cars look and their body designs. From a normal perspective, there is hardly any difference, but the manufacturer does all they can to give their driver a marginal advantage. Following this principle was the Toyota TRD team, which has fielded a newly designed race for the 2024 Cup Series season.

In a time when the new design is under scrutiny and doubt, the TRD President has put out a show of confidence. In a scheduled interview, David Wilson said, “We believe that our new Camry model year 25 is going to come out of the gates pretty strong. We all use the same tools to test and develop a body and they’re all virtual, it’s CFD and it’s the time in the wind tunnel. From those metrics, all the information the numbers look good.”

While the tests are done in theory, one cannot know the new Camry XSE’s true potential or shortcomings unless it is on the racetrack. Acknowledging this aspect, David Wilson added, “We’ve had one test, NASCAR took us all to Phoenix in December and we spent a couple of days out there(…) Gosh I think we were the fastest every session. We did a couple little mock racing runs and Christopher went from back to front and when he was in the front he gapped the field. It’s the only data point we have and I think this is the best body we’ve ever taken to a race track.”

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With both Ford and Toyota fielding their new iterations, they have had little to no time to test and make adjustments since NASCAR announced the new rules package for short tracks.

Ford and Toyota are in the same boat as far as testing is concerned

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New models and design changes do not happen overnight. It takes years of research and a collaborative plan to birth a new car. While getting a new design ready is one thing, testing it out in order to get everything on point is another. Unfortunately for both Toyota and Ford, they had very little time to adjust when the new package rule by NASCAR was implemented during their development.

Both manufacturers submitted their designs for approval before the announcement of the new aeronautical rules package to be used this season. Explaining this very concern, David Wilson from the Toyota team went on to add, “With the rear diffuser, they’ve taken some downforce off the car. We think we’re going to be OK. Cautiously optimistic, but I think we’re the same as everybody else holding our breath a little bit at the same time to see what we see once we get to Phoenix.”

Watch This Story – Toyota’s Bold Move With New Camry XSE Takes On Ford’s Mustang Dark Horse

It is a sticky situation for both Ford and Toyota to not know how their cars will actually perform on the tracks.