Over the years and across the racing spectrum, whenever Toyota decides to jump into an American racing series, success follows.
Off-roading, check. IndyCars, check. Sports cars, check.
NASCAR, check.
In two short years in NASCAR's Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series, Toyota has gone from being a noncompetitive also-ran to a threat for the championship.
Toyota's rapid rise comes as no surprise.
Ford owner Jack Roush issued the warning as soon as NASCAR opened its garages to Toyota. Roush had raced against Toyota previously in sports cars. He knew what Toyota Racing Development could do, given its financial and technical resources.
Now, NASCAR has taken notice.
NASCAR yesterday ordered Toyota's Nationwide Series teams to add a spacer to their engines that will eliminate about 15 horsepower.
Toyota has won 14 of 21 Nationwide Series races this season, 13 of those by Camrys fielded by Joe Gibbs Racing.
NASCAR's vice president of competition, Ryan Pemberton, said Toyota's engines are legally in line with NASCAR's rules. But Pemberton said Toyota, being new to the sport, has the advantage of new designs and has gained an advantage over Chevrolet, Ford and Dodge.
“Toyota has the newest, latest and greatest parts and pieces,” said Pemberton. “No other company has had new engines in the Nationwide or Craftsman Truck Series in I don't know how long.”
The American teams in NASCAR are facing the same problems their sponsoring companies are facing. Toyota is designing the better car.
“We are not punishing Toyota,” Pemberton said. “But the end result is that we have to try to maintain a competitive balance. We felt this change is just enough so everybody was almost on par with the competition.”
NASCAR recently started testing motors in the Nationwide Series.
The most powerful engine in the tests came from David Reutimann's Toyota. It produced about three percent more horsepower than the median engine tested. No. 2 on the list was the engine that came out of the Toyota that Kyle Busch drove to victory at Chicagoland.
Toyota Racing Development President Lee White said he was “extremely disappointed” by NASCAR's decision.
Meantime, Chevrolet said it wants to step up the timetable to introduce its new engine to NASCAR's second-echelon series. Chevrolet's new engine is expected to be a match for Toyota's powerplant.
Miscellany
San Diego resident Richard Antinucci finished third and 14th in the two IndyLites races on the Mid-Ohio road course last weekend to take the series points lead by one point over Raphael Matos, who won last weekend's first race. Antinucci started second in the second heat but was eliminated by an accident.
Valentino Rossi's 66th MotoGP victory Sunday in the U.S. Grand Prix at Laguna Seca was his first on the famed road course in Monterey.
James Stewart remained unbeaten on the AMA Nationals Motocross circuit, winning both motos at Unadilla, N.Y. Stewart has won all 16 motos in the eight events to build a 120-point lead, which is the equivalent of five motos.
El Cajon native and two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson won the Best Driver Award last week at the 16th annual ESPY Awards sponsored by ESPN.
Kyle Busch has won the second-quarter voting for the National Driver of the Year award. Indy 500 winner Scott Dixon was a distant second and World of Outlaws sprint car driver Donny Schatz was third.
CHECKERED FLAGS
Lewis Hamilton: The McLaren driver made great passes of both Felipe Massa and Nelson Piquet Jr. in the hairpin during the final 10 laps to win the German Grand Prix.
Penske Racing: Drivers Ryan Briscoe and Helio Castroneves finished 1-2, respectively, at Mid-Ohio.
Scott Pruett: Over the past two Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car races, the driver, teaming with Memo Rojas, has scored the closest and fourth-closest wins in series history.
Audi: Lucas Luhr and Marco Werner co-drive the R-10 to its first American Le Mans Series overall victory since April.
RED FLAGS
Danica Patrick-Milka Duno: Duno was wrong in not pulling over for faster cars in practice. But Patrick invited the embarrassing confrontation by going down for a face-off in Duno's pits. It made for great video, although it embarrassed the IndyCar circuit.
Gil de Ferran: Fire in his new American Le Mans Series team's pits leaves one crewman hospitalized with serious burns.
Bruno Junqueira: Loses IndyCar victory when the Mid-Ohio race is extended to maximum laps rather than finishing under time constraint.
SCHEDULE
Tomorrow
NASCAR Craftsman Trucks: Power Stroke Diesel 200, Indianapolis (200 laps, .686-mile oval; Speed Channel, 4:30 p.m.) – NASCAR's weekend in Indianapolis opens with the truck race at O'Reilly Raceway Park. Ron Hornaday Jr. is the defending race champion. Johnny Benson won last week's race at Kentucky, holding off Michael Annett, to take the season points lead. Matt Crafton is a single point behind, with Hornaday now third. Half of Hornaday's series-record 36 wins have come on short tracks.
RaceLegal Drags: Qualcomm Stadium, west access road, 6 p.m.
Barona 1/8-Mile Drag Strip: Gambler Series, Vintage Drags, 6 p.m.
Saturday
Championship Off-Road Racing: The Quarry, Chula Vista, 11:55 a.m. (6 p.m., Speed Channel).
NASCAR Sprint Cup: Qualifying, Allstate 400 At The Brickyard, Indianapolis Motor Speedway (2.5-mile rectangular oval; ESPN2, 7 a.m.).
NASCAR Nationwide Series: Kroger 200, Indianapolis (200 laps, .686-mile oval; ESPN, 4:30 p.m.) – Jason Leffler scored Toyota's first victory in a Nationwide Series race at O'Reilly Raceway Park last year. Toyota has won 14 races this season – Tony Stewart five, Kyle Busch five, Denny Hamlin three and Joey Logano one. Thirteen of Toyota's wins this season have been scored by Joe Gibbs Racing.
Indy Racing League: Grand Prix of Edmonton, Canada (1.973-mile, 14-turn temporary road course; ESPN, 2 p.m.) – This is the first race in Edmonton. Ryan Briscoe led a 1-2 Penske sweep and scored his second win of the season on the road course at Mid-Ohio last weekend. This race was one of three carried over from the Champ Car World Series when the IndyCar Series merged this season. Scott Dixon leads Mid-Ohio runner-up Helio Castroneves by 58 points in the season points race. Tony Kanaan is third.
Barona 1/8-Mile Drag Strip: Gambler Series, Vintage Drags, 6 p.m.
Sunday
Championship Off-Road Racing: The Quarry, Chula Vista, 11 a.m. (3 p.m., Channel 7/39).
NASCAR Sprint Cup: Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, Indianapolis Motor Speedway (160 laps; 10 a.m., ESPN) – Indiana native Tony Stewart is the defending champion. Juan Pablo Montoya has started two races at IMS, winning the 2000 Indy 500 and finishing second in the Sprint Cup race last year.
NHRA Drag Racing: Fram Autolite Nationals, Sonoma (ESPN2, 4 p.m.) – Tony Bartone defeated Carlsbad's Ron Capps last week in Seattle to win his first Funny Car title. It was Capps' first final-round appearance of the season. Tony Schumacher has won the past two Top Fuel events.
RACING NUMBER
28 – Percent of his career starts in which Marco Andretti has crashed.
