Toyota takes 6 of the top 8 sports in Cup Series Talladega qualifying

http://www.nascar.com/2007/news/headlines/cup/10/06/talladega.quals.recap.ap/index.html

Waltrip, who has struggled through a generally miserable season, managed to make the race lineup for the third consecutive week, but only the 11th time this season, as he earned his fourth career pole and first since June 2005 at Pocono.
He turned a lap of 189.070 mph on the 2.66-mile oval, with Dave Blaney (http://www.nascar.com/drivers/dps/dblaney00/cup/index.html) second at 188.838.
"I felt confident yesterday we would make the race," Waltrip said. "I wasn't thinking about the pole. Honestly, it's more important to me that we have all three [Michael Waltrip Racing] cars in the top eight."
All of those eight were drivers who had to qualify, including former Formula One champion and Indy 500 winner Jacques Villeneuve, making his Cup debut, and Waltrip's teammates David Reutimann (http://www.nascar.com/drivers/dps/dreutima00/cup/index.html) and Dale Jarrett (http://www.nascar.com/drivers/dps/djarrett00/cup/index.html).
Rookie A.J. Allmendinger, Boris Said (http://www.nascar.com/drivers/dps/bsaid00/cup/index.html), Scott Riggs (http://www.nascar.com/drivers/dps/sriggs00/cup/index.html), Sam Hornish Jr (http://www.nascar.com/drivers/dps/shornish00/bg/index.html). -- another open-wheel driver and Indy 500 winner hoping to make his Cup debut -- and Jeremy Mayfield (http://www.nascar.com/drivers/dps/jmayfiel00/cup/index.html) qualified ninth, 10th, 11th, 13th and 15th, respectively, but were bumped out of the field by drivers in the top 35 in points.
It was a big day for Toyota, which has had little to crow about in its first season in the Cup Series.
Waltrip, Blaney and defending race winner Brian Vickers (http://www.nascar.com/drivers/dps/bvickers00/cup/index.html) swept the first three positions for Toyota and Camrys took six of the top eight spots, although Jarrett, who was eighth, will have to start 43rd under NASCAR's somewhat strange qualifying format.
:clap:

And Jacques Villeneuve (the "rookie" lol) qualified 4th if I'm not mistaken, also in a Toyota :D

On SPEED, they mentioned that Toyota managed to find some more power. The main race will obviously be a different case and hard to predict, but this qualifying result is no less than an amazing performance by the Toyota-equipped teams in their 1st season :cool::thumbup:


PS: Jeff Gordan said something about Villeneuve shouldn't participate in this race because rookies are higher risk in this sort of race (full throttle sans restrictor plate, Ricky Bobby style :lol:). This qualifying result should make him eat his own words.

Earnhardt Jr make the comment that these quite a few veteren who probably should be out on the track either.
I dont think it will make Gordo eat his words, because running fast by yourself is a lot different than running fast with 42 other drivers all in a tight pack.
I just chalk it up to typical Jeff Gordon whining...

Nice finish for the number 22 car, 3rd place!

There most likely would have been several Toyotas in the top 10 if they hadnt gotten taken out in crashes. Waltrip blew a tire and Reutimann, Vickers and Jarrett got taken out in crashes that werent their fault.
It was nice to see Blaney get 3rd though. I like the comments on several of the other teams' radio communications about how fast the Toyota's were and I liked Rick Hendrick's comment in the post-race show when they asked him what he thought about Toyota and he said, "They will be a force. They have good stuff and the cars are all the same." If you all remember back to Daytona in February, a lot of people laugh at Toyota and said they would not be at all competitive in their first season.
I also thought it was cool how everyone said that the Toyota qualified so well because they had a qualifying setup whereas everyone else had a race setup (because it was an impound race where you couldnt adjust on the car after qualifying) and how the Toyotas most likely wouldnt finish, yet none of the Toyotas blew up. It was all the DEI/RCR CHEVYS that blew up. I think that out of 7 total cars, only 1 of them didnt have engine problems. Harvick did finish, but he broke a valvespring and was only running on 7 cylinders. It was great to see those Chevies blow motors one right after the other. :thumbsup: Toyota changed some stuff on their motors to gain power and they didnt blow up. :nana:
One other milestone happened this weekend, Toyota won their first ARCA race.
So, Id say it was a pretty good weekend. Toyota won their first ARCA race, Bodine won the truck race, Waltrip won the Cup race pole and Blaney finished 3rd.

There most likely would have been several Toyotas in the top 10 if they hadnt gotten taken out in crashes. Waltrip blew a tire and Reutimann, Vickers and Jarrett got taken out in crashes that werent their fault.
It was nice to see Blaney get 3rd though. I like the comments on several of the other teams' radio communications about how fast the Toyota's were and I liked Rick Hendrick's comment in the post-race show when they asked him what he thought about Toyota and he said, "They will be a force. They have good stuff and the cars are all the same." If you all remember back to Daytona in February, a lot of people laugh at Toyota and said they would not be at all competitive in their first season.
I also thought it was cool how everyone said that the Toyota qualified so well because they had a qualifying setup whereas everyone else had a race setup (because it was an impound race where you couldnt adjust on the car after qualifying) and how the Toyotas most likely wouldnt finish, yet none of the Toyotas blew up. It was all the DEI/RCR CHEVYS that blew up. I think that out of 7 total cars, only 1 of them didnt have engine problems. Harvick did finish, but he broke a valvespring and was only running on 7 cylinders. It was great to see those Chevies blow motors one right after the other. :thumbsup: Toyota changed some stuff on their motors to gain power and they didnt blow up. :nana:
One other milestone happened this weekend, Toyota won their first ARCA race.
So, Id say it was a pretty good weekend. Toyota won their first ARCA race, Bodine won the truck race, Waltrip won the Cup race pole and Blaney finished 3rd.
Impressive weekend for Toyota, I must say :) And the 1st win for the ARCA race is the only the beginning. May I say again this is Toyota's 1st year racing in (non-truck) Nascar? :D

Speaking of crap-talking Toyota not being competitive in its 1st season, where's SILVERadoTACOMA??? :lol:

Oh, and the Chevys blowing their engines this weekend was great for a laugh :rofl:

Speaking of crap-talking Toyota not being competitive in its 1st season, where's SILVERadoTACOMA??? :lol:

:rofl:

??? Ok, ya got me, they've had one race where more than one car was running in the top ten for most of the race.

A lot of the drivers, especially chase drivers, went with a safer race set-up rather than trying to qualify high. This was an impound raceas Bakemono mentioned

http://www.nascar.com/2007/news/headlines/cup/10/06/talladega.go.or.go.home.quals/index.html

Toyota SHOULD do well at superspeedways, it's the only track waltrip knows how to win at and he spent YEARS under dale earnhardt learning how to race it and set up cars.

The highest Toyota driver in the standings is Dave Blaney back in 32nd. Yup, I was wrong, I'm sorry, Toyota's been real competitive this year :lol:

With Gibbs racing next year, Toyota WILL win races and contend for the championship. It has a lot to do with the quality of program and drivers. Toyota bought 3 great drivers for next year, *if* Toyota had had those drivers this year, the first season would have been MUCH better.

^^^ :werd: on your last statement. All I'm saying is it's too easy and too early for naysayers to naysay. I mean, it's Toyota's 1st year and they're already getting favorable results. Rest assure that the next season Toyota will be up to speed, plus with Gibbs racing team they'd have a much better chance. And do I need to mention NCTS? ;)

Give it time, and the Detroit-3 will have a tougher time by then.

Not to mention the fact that next year Toyota will be leasing the windtunnel in Charlotte, NC and that they will be building an engine shop and chassis shop in that same area.
I honestly didnt expect Toyota to be at all competitive this year. I mean, look at how much Dodge struggled when they got back in.
However, Ive been pleased with Toyota's performance. Granted, they havent won but think about all the struggles they had. MWR and Redbull are both new teams, they had to build 2 very different cars (the old car and the COT) and unlike all the other top-level teams, they havent had access to a 4-post rig. Basically, a 4-post rig is much like a chassis dyno. It lets you test what different suspension settings and components will do without ever having to put the car on a track. You can literally do suspension testing 23/7/365. All of the other top teams have their own 4-post rig but up until a month ago, none of the Toyota teams had access to one. Now, BDR and MWR are paying to use someone else's (I dont recall whose) and you are seeing improvement.
I also look at how Toyota has won 2 poles and have gotten several top 10 finishes. SILVERadoTACOMA, you say that Waltrip is good only on speedways and you may be right, but you are forgetting his top-10 finish at the last Michigan race.
Also, the Toyotas were not running a qualifying setup. They claimed all weekend long that they werent not using a qualifying setup and the fact that the managed to stay up front all day long proves that. If they had a qualifying setup they would have been very fast at the beginning of a run and then their speeds would have fallen off after 10-15 laps, but that didnt happen. Bottom line, the Toyotas came upon a setup that the others didnt. Yes, the drivers in the case were playing it safe, but towards the end of the race, Blaney, Waltrip and Reutimann were up front. The haters can make the excuse that the Toyota were running a qualifying setup whereas the others were running a race setup all they want, but its just not true.
I also point to the fact that none of the Toyotas blew an engine. If they were running a "qualifying setup", which would include thinner oil in the engine in order to gain speed, at least 1 of them would have blown a motor. What teams blew motors again? Remind me, because Im kinda forgetful sometimes. Oh yes, it was the RCR/DEI engines that were blowing. Correct me if Im wong, but RCR and DEI run Chevrolets, right?
Toyota has had great runs, but for the most part they havent been able to seal the deal and get finishes that reflect how well they ran.