Toyota's 2007 NASCAR ripples become a Tsunami

That rumble you here in the background of all the NASCAR comment and rhetoric is the the inevitable wave of the Toyota juggernaut rolling towards Sprint Cup Championships in the not distant future. 

With the official aknowlegement of the worst kept secret in the NASCAR garage, Joe Gibbs Racing has made the kind of move dynasties are made of.

The Gibbs crews go from one of four Chevrolet teams - and unarguably not the clear #1 - to being the spearhead of Toyota's effort to capture the Sprint Cup Championship.

Toyota not only gains a championship winning organization.  They now have in their stable of drivers, three who are consistent winners and Chase to the Cup qualifiers - and importantly, guaranteed starters in next February's Daytona 500.  Add Gibbs satellite, Hall of Fame Racing and it's new driver J J Yeley to the line up and the NASCAR landscape has changed in a big way.

I have heard many comments that this move by Joe Gibbs Racing at this time will ruin any chance that Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin have of winning the Cup in 2007.  The theory being that Chevrolet will now withhold any top secret -Nextel Cup winning - technology from the traitors at JGR.  Sorry, I don't buy it.  The Bow-tie boys would give Henry Ford help if Hank drove a Monte Carlo...or Impala.

And of course the backlash of NASCAR fans has begun, as this comment on the Daly Planet blog shows.

They talked about wanting to be on the cutting edge and being leaders, but going from 2nd best to being the best of the worst is a step backwards. This will turn off a lot of fans, including me. I think I'll start rooting for Tony's rival Jimmie Johnson now, to spite him.
Kevin in SoCal

I wonder if Kevin in SoCal knows that Tony Stewart Racing has been running Toyota powered sprints and midgets for some time now?  Doubt it.

And how long can it be before Jack Roush re-declares NASCAR War on Toyota?  Maybe The Cat in the Hat will be relieved to have one fewer Chevy team to deal with. 

Toyota has made steady progress in 2007.  The past weekend's results by the two Red Bull Toyotas is a small indicator.  Make no mistake though.  That rumbling roar in the background noise surrounding the Race to the Chase finale this week is the Toyota Tsunami, relentlessly building towards Cup Series championships.

Comments

[robert bourne]

The disenters are a small and dwindling group...just walk around the neighbourhood and see what they drive....Ford sales down another 14%...even with my contribution of buying one of theirr pickups...earlier this year..some will nevr face up to the fact that the sport has moved on to another era...Toyota might be the first but not the last....Get over it and let's go racing...

[jerry]

your wrong about toyota powered sprints and midgets. one thing tony said was he hopes he can still keep his relationship with chevy for those cars. tony will lose a great number of fans over this.

[Charlie]

My bad Jerry. I was thinking Kasey Kahne and writing about Stewart on the midgets. I'm sure Stewart will lose some fans over this. I don't disagree with you about that one bit. I have sold Toyotas for over twenty years and have seen the hate in person. It doesn't change the fact that competitively, this move will help JGR in a big way. Tony Stewart will still have plenty of fans.