I'm Just Sayin'...
By Matthew Scott

TOYOTA: MOVING FORWARD
Monday, March 10th, 2008

A rising tide raises all ships…or something like that. Forgive me if my paraphrasing is a little out of whack, but the point remains the same. The single most important element in Toyota’s evolution into a Nascar Sprint Cup contender took place last fall when Lee White and his gang managed to get Joe Gibbs’ signature on the bottom of a contract. Before the ink was even dry, you knew, I knew, and you can damn sure bet Lee White and everyone at Toyota knew, good times were on the horizon.

Kyle Busch won the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in thoroughly dominating fashion. No surprise, really, since he thoroughly dominated Friday’s truck race and Saturday’s Nationwide race, that is, until a blown tire put he and his chances at an historic weekend triple shot in the wall. (Speaking of tires, which happens first…Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth star in a remake of the sitcom “Bosom Buddies” or Tony Stewart wins the Goodyear employee of the month award?). In fact, The Shrub has been so good so far my computer has created its own macro to add “thoroughly dominated” every time I type the name “Kyle Busch.” But I digress. Busch’s win gave Toyota its first-ever win in Nascar’s top division, and was the first win for a foreign manufacturer since 1954 (all those wins by Chevrolets, Fords, and Dodges made in Canada and Mexico notwithstanding). Busch’s JGR teammate Tony Stewart rode those terrible tires to a second-place finish. The third member of the JGR stable, Denny Hamlin finished 15th. None of this is a surprise. JGR is one of the most organized, resourceful teams in the Nascar garage. There was no doubt their alliance with Toyota would eventually yield quality results, even if one expected it to take a little longer than this.

But look at the rest of the standings to see just how far Toyota has come in a relatively short period of time. Brian Vickers finished 9th. That’s 9th, people, not 29th or 39th…9th as in Top 10. Oh, and don’t look now, but that’s also Vickers who is 9th in the overall drivers standings. Last year, Vickers qualified for only 23 of 36 races, with an average finish of 25th. He spent the entire season on the “go-or-go-home” list, and ended the year 38th in points. Subsequently, he began 2008 on that same dreaded list. But he’s about to wave “bye-bye” to that list, as he has qualified for all 4 races this season, has an average finish of 14th, and has the determined look of someone ready, willing, and able to maintain that top 10 standing.

Keep looking at those results. There’s David Ruetimann in 20th, the same David Ruetimann who missed 10 races a year ago and finished 39th in points. This year? 4 for 4, 27th. In fact, look at Michael Waltrip racing in general, and the team owner in particular. Last year, MWR combined to miss 44 races, exactly half of those by Waltrip himself, and Ruetimann in 39th was the only MWR driver to finish inside the top 40 in points. This season, the trio is 12 for 12 in qualifying, and all three are currently inside the magic Top 35.

Now, to be fair, having three teams ranked 27th, 32nd, and 33rd in points, as MWR has, is not exactly cause to climb the highest hill and pound your chest. The larger point, though, is that Toyota, deemed a “failure” by some in their first year of Cup racing, has proven that they will do whatever it takes to become, and remain, competitive, and the first, and certainly biggest, domino in that chain of events was signing a deal with Joe Gibbs racing. At the time, it was an unthinkable move for some, bordering on unpatriotic. If these early results continue, expect more of the same.

Some will say, and have said, that Toyota will succeed simply because they’ll throw more money into the deal than anyone else, that they will, in effect, “buy” success. Did I miss something? Has the point of racing changed? Is the ultimate goal to cross the finish line first, or to do so in the most economical manner? I’m pretty sure the Hendrick teams didn’t dominate last year simply because they “wanted it” more than, say, Petty Enterprises. When Jack Roush placed all five of his teams in the Chase back in 2005, I would guess he spent more per team than, oh, I don’t know…CNC Haas or BAM. Money has always been THE key factor in going fast. If it turns out that having the Toyota nameplate on your car is the best way to go fast, you can bet all the big boys will give serious consideration to “moving forward,” even if it means Dale Earnhardt, Jr., when he ultimately does win a championship, does so wearing a hat with a big old Toyota logo on it.

Wouldn’t THAT be something?

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