Toyota Improving NASCAR Effort
Joe Gibbs Racing Will Give Toyota Star Power
Joe Gibbs Racing is expected to end their 16-year relationship with General Motors after the 2007 season and join Toyota.
It really is not a matter of if, but when Toyota announces the addition of Joe Gibbs Racing to their team roster. Currently, Michael Waltrip Racing, Bill Davis Racing, and Red Bull Racing are the faces of Toyota’s NASCAR effort, but they will be receiving a much needed shot in the arm with the arrival of Joe Gibbs Racing.
The 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup season, as everyone knows, has been the introductory season for Toyota in NASCAR, and it has been a chaotic one to say the least. While no one expected any Toyota teams to really be a factor, they also did not anticipate this much turmoil either.
It all started with the cheating scandal at Daytona courtesy of Toyota’s adored spokesman Michael Waltrip. Waltrip’s team was found to contain an illegal substance on the intake manifold. Waltrip’s crew chief David Hyder and competition director Bobby Kennedy were heavily fined and indefinitely suspended from NASCAR, and Waltrip was docked 100 Nextel Cup championship points and owner’s points.
Things got worse for Michael Waltrip in April as he was involved in an accident early one morning, and then fled the scene. His PR nightmares coupled with his lackluster performance on race weekends has been strenuous on Michael Waltrip and his race team.
Along with Michael Waltrip’s negative publicity, no Toyota team has qualified for every Nextel Cup race in 2007. Out of 24 races completed in 2007, Dave Blaney has qualified for 22, Dale Jarrett and David Reutimann have qualified for 16 each, Brian Vickers has qualified for 14, Jeremy Mayfield has qualified for 10, A.J. Allmendinger has qualified for 9, and Michael Waltrip has qualified for only 7, although Terry Labonte has made the show three times in the NAPA colors.
As a whole, Toyota drivers have only produced 1 top five, and six top tens in 2007. Jeff Gordon alone has more than tripled that total for top tens.
So what Toyota needs is a team that can produce, enter Joe Gibbs Racing. Only Roush Fenway Racing and Hendrick Motorsports boasts as many championships (2) this decade as Joe Gibbs Racing. Joe Gibbs Racing has arguably the third most influential driver in NASCAR with Tony Stewart, and two rising super stars in Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch, though Busch will not suit up for Gibbs until 2008. This trio of drivers will give Toyota exactly what they need- some victory celebrations. Unfortunately, the current crop of Toyota representatives are not even close to putting a Camry in victory lane, though Dave Blaney and Brian Vickers have shown some potential.
Will there be backlash from this decision by Joe Gibbs Racing? Possibly. It is no secret that many traditional NASCAR fans have been chagrined by Toyota’s advent into the sport that is considered as American as American can be. And many Chevrolet loyalists will be furious with this change, just like the many Dale Jarrett fans were last year when he bolted from Ford Racing.
But Tony Stewart’s name carries a lot of weight with NASCAR’s fan base, and he has an innumerable amount of loyal fans that will follow him even if he circled the track in a horse and carriage.
So fans, get ready, because you are about the feel the Toyota effect in NASCAR.
