Toyota to Make NASCAR Debut at Daytona 500

Two-Time Daytona 500 Winner Michael Waltrip Dodges US Brands Driving a Camry

Daytona International Speedway is the 2.5 mile oval where Toyota will make it's first competitive appearance in the major league of American stock car racing. Toyota Racing Development is making a multi-team effort with 1999 Champion Dale Jarrett and rookie David Reutimann on one team and Jeremy Mayfield and Dave Blaney driving for Bill Davis Racing. Red Bull is fueling another team whose cars will be guided by Brian Vickers and A.J. Allmendinger.
There are 19 Chevrolets, 10 Fords, 4 Plymouths, 3 Buicks, 3 Dodges, 3 Mercurys, 3 Oldsmobiles and 3 Pontiacs racing in the Daytona 500 that will be the first one that a "foreign" manufacturer has entered as a supplier of the "stock cars" that the various teams disassemble and remanufacture into racing cars.

With the current conditions in the American auto industry with the "Big Three" consolidating their businesses, closing assembly and engine plants and firing thousands of workers, there is not much money to be spent on auto racing. This is a big concern in the "pits" (where the cars are worked on during the race and resupplied with tires) that Toyota Racing Development will be able to overwhem the other teams in NASCAR with "cubic dollars", buying the services of the most experienced and innovative crew chiefs and mechanics. (Actually they are engineers that work with aluminum and steel rather than laptops.)

Actually, Toyota has become more of an American car company over the years. The Toyota Camry street model that the NASCAR racecars is fabricated from is assembled in the United States. The Ford Fusion, Chevrolet Monte Carlo and Dodge Charger are made in Canada or Mexico.

At the team level, most of the money comes from corporate sponsors as varied as American business, M and M's candy to the Home Depot are represented.

The oil company Sunoco is the official fuel supplier and every racer is supplied with gasoline with a consistant octane rating so that none of the competitors gain an unfair advantage from using a more powerful fuel.