[dirty]

Foreign carmaker's Nextel Cup debut going smoothly

By RICK MINTER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 01/14/07 Daytona Beach, Fla. — The foreign invasion into NASCAR's Nextel Cup Series hit the shores of Daytona Beach this week with very little shock and awe.
When Toyota unloaded its fleet of Camrys at Daytona International Speedway, it was the biggest showing by a foreign nameplate since June 14, 1954, when NASCAR issued a rare invitation to owners of foreign cars to compete in a makeshift race course at the airport at Linden, N.J.

AP (ENLARGE)

The Toyota Camry debuts in Nextel Cup this season.

But unlike the race at Linden, the Camrys at Daytona's test session looked ... well, like all the other cars. The drivers in the Toyota garage looked and sounded ... well, like all the other drivers.
So maybe this foreign thing is going to work out OK after all.
Those expecting pomp and pageantry from Toyota's three new race teams got dull and gray. The cars, which feature beautifully colored paint schemes and decals during the racing season, were painted with dull gray primer for test sessions. The only thing that distinguished them were car numbers and manufacturer decals.
The Chevrolets looked like the Fords. The Fords looked like the Dodges. And Toyota had no trouble fitting right into the middle of the nondescript pack.
That's also the way the Camrys ran during test sessions: Middle of the pack.
Team Red Bull's general manager Marty Gaunt, a veteran of the NASCAR garage, said too much is being made of Toyota's entry into Nextel Cup. The last time a foreign make (an MG) competed in a Cup race was in August 1963.
"I think there's been a lot of hype and people worrying about the unknown," Gaunt said. "That's natural in life, in general. The way the rules are and the way NASCAR mandates everything, we're all pretty close on templates."
The foreign debut also was uneventful because of so many familiar faces working in the Toyota garage — Dale Jarrett, in his familiar UPS firesuit, driving the No. 44 Camry. Brian Vickers in the No. 83; Dave Blaney in the 22. And some well-known crew chiefs, Matt Borland and Doug Richert among them, are leading the Toyota effort.
"Some came from other [Cup] teams, some from Busch teams some from truck teams, and we've got some new people," Gaunt said. "There's not a huge shock factor coming into the garage. I think it'll be more so when we come to race time. How we perform on the track will be the deciding factor."
And that factor will include fans, who may or may not like what they see. During test sessions, only a handful of the faithful wandered through the infield fan plaza each day. They seem to understand that testing at Daytona is nothing more than an annual laid-back rite of winter, giving teams the chance to prepare for the sport's biggest race — the Daytona 500 on Feb. 18.
Drivers and crew renew acquaintances, find out how fast their cars will run, how fast the competition will run.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. bailed out after the first two days, turning over his famed No. 8 Chevy to his brother Kerry. And for the second year in a row, Tony Stewart didn't even show up. That gave journeyman Mike McLaughlin a chance to drive one of the sport's most famous cars — the No. 20 Chevrolet.
Sophomore driver Martin Truex Jr. said neither team should suffer because of the absence of the primary drivers.
"You can pretty much put anybody in there here and learn the same thing," Truex said. "Running two laps by yourself all day doesn't do much for you as a driver."
Unless you're Toyota. And everything old hat is new.