NASCAR demo set for Gold Coast Supercars round

McLaughlin will jump behind the wheel of the Ford Fusion Cup car that Joey Logano drove to victory at the NASCAR All-Star race in 2016 in a special demo run on the Surfers Paradise street circuit.

The NASCAR Fusion already resides on the Gold Coast, having been shipped to DJR Team Penske's Yatala workshop to go on display in the team's museum.

The car has a number of significant links to the Australian arm of the Penske racing empire, sharing a manufacturer in Ford, and a major backer in Shell.

The NASCAR demo will bring the US flavour back to an event still colloquially referred to as Indy, thanks to its long association with American open-wheel racing.

It also comes amid a burgeoning relationship between NASCAR and Supercars, the American series' executive vice president Steve O'Donnell and vice president of innovation and racing development John Probst having travelled Down Under for the Tailem Bend Supercars round back in August.

That's led to speculation that could stage a showcase race on the Gold Coast as soon as next year.

It wouldn't be the first American-style stock car race in Surfers Paradise, a local version known as AUSCAR having run on the Indy support card in the mid-1990s.

Supercars star Scott McLaughlin, DJR Team Penske Ford

Photo by: Edge Photographics