Toyota is "on the ropes" in Nextel Cup ...

[RaceFanStan]

Brian Vickers, Michael Waltrip, Jeremy Mayfield & Dale Jarrett DNQ'ed @ Richmond ...

So after 10 Race Attempts NO Toyota Driver is in the Top 35 in Owners Points :eek:
Driver Points Standings ~ Driver ~ Car# ~ Owner Points Standings ~ Starts
37th ~ Dave Blaney ~~~~ #22 ~ 37th ~ 9 Starts
39th ~ Dale Jarrett ~~~~ #44 ~ 40th ~ 9 Starts (has used all 6 of his Champ Provisionals)
41st ~ Brian Vickers ~~~ #83 ~ 41st ~ 4 Starts
42nd ~ David Reutimann ~ #00 ~ 43rd ~ 7 Starts
48th ~ Jeremy Mayfield ~ #36 ~ 46th ~ 3 Starts
50th ~ A J Allmendinger ~ #84 ~ 47th ~ 3 Starts
55th ~ Michael Waltrip ~~ #55 ~ 50th ~ 1 Start (made the Daytona 500 & that is it so far)

So there is NO Toyota Driver guaranteed to start @ Darlington ! :eek:

Furthermore there is NO WAY a Toyota Driver will make the Chase !
(Heck, most them aren't fast enough to qualify & if they make the race, they usually run in the back.) :s

[blakebeatty]

So there is NO Toyota Driver guaranteed to start @ Darlington ! :eek:


ha ha. I would go so far as to say that there are toyota drivers I'd guarantee WON'T make the race

[SOD]

Toyota will buy into an established team within a few years. They've fared better with the COT than with the car of yesteryear.

[blakebeatty]

i wouldnt mind seeing one of the big chevy teams go to toyota, like perhaps joe gibbs, just to even out each manufacturer's presence (like 10 chevy 10 ford 10 dodge 10 toyota in each race)

[MD24]

Brian Vickers, Michael Waltrip, Jeremy Mayfield & Dale Jarrett DNQ'ed @ Richmond ...

So after 10 Race Attempts NO Toyota Driver is in the Top 35 in Owners Points :eek:
Driver Points Standings ~ Driver ~ Car# ~ Owner Points Standings ~ Starts
37th ~ Dave Blaney ~~~~ #22 ~ 37th ~ 9 Starts
39th ~ Dale Jarrett ~~~~ #44 ~ 40th ~ 9 Starts (has used all 6 of his Champ Provisionals)
41st ~ Brian Vickers ~~~ #83 ~ 41st ~ 4 Starts
42nd ~ David Reutimann ~ #00 ~ 43rd ~ 7 Starts
48th ~ Jeremy Mayfield ~ #36 ~ 46th ~ 3 Starts
50th ~ A J Allmendinger ~ #84 ~ 47th ~ 3 Starts
55th ~ Michael Waltrip ~~ #55 ~ 50th ~ 1 Start (made the Daytona 500 & that is it so far)

So there is NO Toyota Driver guaranteed to start @ Darlington ! :eek:

Furthermore there is NO WAY a Toyota Driver will make the Chase !
(Heck, most them aren't fast enough to qualify & if they make the race, they usually run in the back.) :s

They're off to a terrible start, I didn't expect them to do so poorly

[Hoss Ghoul]

i wouldnt mind seeing one of the big chevy teams go to toyota, like perhaps joe gibbs, just to even out each manufacturer's presence (like 10 chevy 10 ford 10 dodge 10 toyota in each race)

I think Ganassi is the most likely of the established teams to go to Toyota, followed by Penske.

[Jonesi]

They are hardly "on the ropes", just doing a little worse than expected in what has to be the most competive (to enter) year ever in any pro racing series. (Even the years of F1 with 34-38 cars and prequalifing wasn't this hard.) They are averaging 3.6 starts per race (without DJs CPs) 3 per race. Did anyone really expect them to do better than 4 or 5 average? The big problem is they're knocking each other out besides the other six full time teams. Buying into a mid pack team might not help them. Paying #78 Visser, #49 BAM & #4 Morgan/McClure teams to go race somewhere else for a few months would probably do much more.

[dwboogityfan]

I'd expect Blaney to work his way into the top 35 before too long but I think he will be the only Toyota in there come the end of the season.

[RaceFanStan]

IMO unless Toyota finds some horsepower somewhere ... their "debut" in Nextel Cup will be an embarassment. :eek:
Toyota needs to get some solid finishes or they may look at leaving ...
but before you can get a solid finish, you 1st have to start ! :eek:

[Lee Roy]

Dang!!! It seems like only a few short months ago that so many blow-hards from other racing series were breezing in here to tell us how Toyota was going to dominate and destroy NASCAR.

Where are these blow-hards now?

[Bob Riebe]

Prediction:
Towards the end of the year, the Toyota teams will suddenly do much better, setting up anticipation for next years Daytona.

[muggle not]

Prediction:
Towards the end of the year, the Toyota teams will suddenly do much better, setting up anticipation for next years Daytona.
Chit, they only have one way to go.

[Lee Roy]

Prediction:
Towards the end of the year, the Toyota teams will suddenly do much better, setting up anticipation for next years Daytona.

How many years have Toyota been expecting to do better in Formula One?

[BenRoethig]

How many years have Toyota been expecting to do better in Formula One?

I'm not saying anything fishy is going on, but has a non-European manufacturer ever done that well is F1?

[e2mtt]

I'm not saying anything fishy is going on, but has a non-European manufacturer ever done that well is F1?

Honda has had quite a bit of success in the past.

[Bob Riebe]

I AM saying the France family WILL allow them to do better.
Bob

[Lee Roy]

I AM saying the France family WILL allow them to do better.
Bob

Bernie Ecclestone will allow them to do better in Formula One. All they have to do is do it.

[e2mtt]

Bernie Ecclestone will allow them to do better in Formula One. All they have to do is do it.

:-D

I love it... so nice that sometimes money can't buy you wins.

[harvick#1]

Toyota is on the ropes because they have very little Talent.

Vickers and Reutimann seem to be the only ones with talent with Blaney running well on some tracks.
Jarrett is finished, hate me for sayin that but he just lost a step.
Walturd is Walturd, he needs to become a salemans instead of racing.


if Toyota wants to improve in Nascar, they need to somehow buy off a top notch Cup team, not a BDR or MWR. Red Bull is brand new and they are better than MWR.

[Old3Fan]

Toyota is doing poorly because they have no talent in the teams or drivers they have. Sooner or later, I say sooner, Chip or Roger or Gibbs or some other better organized team will reach out to the tons of $$$$$$$$$ that Toyota will put out as they always do. They didn't become the #1 car manufacture in the world overnight and likewise it will take them awhile to come up to speed in Nascar. They sure aren't doing too bad in the Craftsman Truck Series.

[BenRoethig]

Toyota is doing poorly because they have no talent in the teams or drivers they have. Sooner or later, I say sooner, Chip or Roger or Gibbs or some other better organized team will reach out to the tons of $$$$$$$$$ that Toyota will put out as they always do. They didn't become the #1 car manufacture in the world overnight and likewise it will take them awhile to come up to speed in Nascar. They sure aren't doing too bad in the Craftsman Truck Series.

They're putting a full factory effort in the truck series. Everyone else is devoting their full resources to cup.

[Bob Riebe]

What type of responses do you think would be written here if, they now had many top five finishes and had won a couple of races?

[djparky]

when Toyota first entered CART they were laughed at- the engines were slow and routinely broke down (usually in huge clouds of smoke when it blew up).. but slowly they moved forward and eventually won- there's no reason why they won't do better in NASCAR- they've not started with great teams but if NASCAR moves straight to COT next year I;d expect them to be alot more successful- they're not likely to develop the COY as much given that it's going to be junked in the near future

Vickers is pretty good, Blaney is as well, Allmendinger is in his first year of stock car racing with a new team which can't be easy- as for Waltrip- well he never looked that good in a DEI car so there's no reason that he'll do any better in his own team- time to quit driving and employ a young gun

[tstran17_88]

Toyota is fairing a lot better in the Busch series against pretty much the same teams it races against in cup.

[teamsuperimu]

You know I'm torn on the Toyota thing. They spent a lot of money in Trucks and now dominate, but there spend more money in F1 and they're the laughingstock of F1. They could go either way. It depends on how much of a fight GM and Ford want to put up.

[call_me_andrew]

Honda has had quite a bit of success in the past.

Three wins and two poles since 1964. That sounds like a top contender to me.

[Jonesi]

Three wins and two poles since 1964. That sounds like a top contender to me.

Who do you think built the most powerful 1.5L turbo motors getting 1200hp in the early to mid 80s?

[Erki]

Who do you think built the most powerful 1.5L turbo motors getting 1200hp in the early to mid 80s?

BMW? :)