Motorsports

Toyota has three teams set

By BRANT JAMES
Published January 25, 2006

CONCORD, N.C. - Michael Waltrip knew he wanted to be a Nextel Cup team owner but didn't know how the team he started 10 years ago in his backyard could ever compete with the multicar conglomerates that dominate the series. He thinks he found his way after visiting a Toyota Racing Development facility last summer in California.

"I was there two minutes and I thought, "Man, if I can plug into this stuff, I can go race with those guys,' " he said Tuesday when he was introduced as one of three owners for Toyota's first foray into Nextel Cup, beginning next season.

That Waltrip is joining Toyota is no surprise considering older brother Darrell has a relationship with the manufacturer, as one of its owners in the truck series since 2004. The surprise was that Waltrip, Bill Davis Racing and newly formed Red Bull Racing plan to launch with two cars each.

And Waltrip's eagerness to "plug into" Toyota's vast and rich program sounded contrary to the limits NASCAR supposedly imposed when it allowed the company in as the first full-time foreign manufacturer in its top racing series.

Toyota has entered, dominated and eventually left Champ Car and the Indy Racing League, outspending its foes for talent and technology along the way. NASCAR competition director Robin Pemberton said his series' rules would never allow that to happen. But Toyota officials intimated Tuesday that the company will do anything - while abiding by the letter of the rules - to help its teams win. Toyota vice president of racing development Lee White said that because team owners like Jack Roush and Robert Yates (Ford) and Rick Hendrick (Chevrolet) build and sell engines to other teams, so can Toyota.

Bill Davis Racing will field a Dodge this season for Dave Blaney, but it is unclear if Blaney will drive a Camry in 2007. Michael Waltrip will start his Cup team this year with cars and personnel supplied by Davis.

Red Bull fields large, self-owned teams in several series including Formula One but has no Cup drivers or personnel.

[Last modified January 25, 2006, 00:56:11]