[91MR2quickNA]

Kyle Busch was the man to beat the whole race. His Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was fast all day and night as he led the most laps of the Daytona 500. JGR teammate Tony Stewart laid back in the pack throughout much of the race, then after a mid-race caution, was suddenly in the 4th position and fighting for serious positions. As it turned out, it was the Home Depot team's strategy all along. Dyno tests after the Duel 150s showed that the Toyota engines had a 30 horsepower advantage over the Ford, Chevy, and Dodges of Rousch Fenway, Hendrick, and Penske, respectively. And it showed with the 18 M&Ms car of Kyle Busch.

Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas are going to be strong all year, if Daytona is any indication. However, the real test comes next week in Fontana, where engines see revs of almost 10,000rpm and cars see speeds of over 200mph in the first non-restrictor plate race of the season. 2008 seems to be a good year for Toyota's sophomore season in the upper echelons of NASCAR. Michael Waltrip Racing seems to be a completely different team this year, and Bill Davis Racing, who fielded the best Toyotas last season, will most definitely find more consistent results with JGR on board. As the old adage goes, what a difference a year makes.

I won't post the results of the race for those of you who haven't seen it. For the most part, it was a good, clean race.

They can be found at http://www.nascar.com.

 

[EchoHoLiK]

^^^ I hear ya. Needless to say, it was a good move for JGR to go with Toyota, even though it was a bit late and time was tight. And I must say, Kyle Busch is the man, even though he didn't win it, he was the man/car to beat today, leading the most laps. Even though it was disappointing for Tony Stewart, I'd still say that he's very very good at what he does, and this is just the beginning of the season. There's a long way to go :thumbup:



SPOILER ALERT (for the ones who don't want to know the final results)

Scroll down for link...





































An article from Yahoo:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news?slug=ap-nascar-daytona500&prov=ap&type=lgns


My congratulation goes to Ryan Newman of Penske Racing, who was driving a Dodge. The Dodge cars/trucks were also very strong throughout the weekend, I'd say that overall Dodge had a much stronger showing than Chevy and Ford out of the Detroit-3.

 

[ryannel2003]

What an exciting race! I was glad to see many Toyota's in the Top 10; shows lots of promise for Fontana next week and the rest of the season.

 

[EchoHoLiK]

^^^ I agree, very exciting throughout the weekend. I was never a Nascar fan before Toyota joined in, but I guess now I am one

Overall, Toyota winning 2 out of the 3 major races this Daytona weekend is a pretty good start IMO.

 

[ryannel2003]

Once you start watching... it's really hard to stop. Almost like a sickness. I've been watching for probably 10 years or so, pulled for Earnhardt Sr. until his death. After that, never really had a driver so to speak (Jr. is good, but nowhere near as good as his father). People think its just guys driving around in an oval for 500 or so miles, but its so much more than that.

 

[CharmCityES]

im the same way echoholick...i never watched nascar till toyota got in, and now im around for every race
im glad toyota had such a strong showing at daytona...i hope we do as well next sunday at california

 

[EchoHoLiK]

im the same way echoholick...i never watched nascar till toyota got in, and now im around for every race
im glad toyota had such a strong showing at daytona...i hope we do as well next sunday at california

Rock on :banger: Although I'd still have mad respect for other teams that aren't running a Toyota. Bottomline is that the 4 manufacturers (plus all the teams and drivers) will provide great racing, and the real winners are the fans :thumbup::thumbup:

Once you start watching... it's really hard to stop. Almost like a sickness. I've been watching for probably 10 years or so, pulled for Earnhardt Sr. until his death. After that, never really had a driver so to speak (Jr. is good, but nowhere near as good as his father). People think its just guys driving around in an oval for 500 or so miles, but its so much more than that.

I agree, Junior wouldn't be the legend that his father was, but I guess that's one of the reasons why he left DEI and gone to a new team, to try to prove himself as a competent racer and not trying to live in his father's shadow. That's very respectable IMO, and I wish him success. I'd be cool to see him drive for Toyota, but I think there'll be a lot of outcries (from hardcore fans especially the Chevy guys) than there is now already. I dunno, I might be wrong.

Personally speaking (in response to your final statement in bold), I used to think like that too, thinking that oval racing is boring and it's just turning left without using the brakes and whatnot. Although I still think like that (to a very low extent) and would like to see Nascar run more road-courses (like Watkins Glen), I have new found respect for the drivers and teams who race Nascar. And now I know that these oval-racings aren't just pedal-to-the-metal and turning left. There're LOTS of knowledge and strategies involved, and knowing how to draft (as a racing driver) is a HUGE deal when you wanna win. There're also a lot involved in suspension and aerodynamics tuning depending on the type of track. Nevertheless, it's not as simple as "just turning left" anymore.

It's great for a racing fan like me to learn lots of new things when being a new fan to another type of racing

 

[CharmCityES]

i agree with everyone
nascar is so addicting because its just so fast paced and exciting....i mean theres constant dogfighting for the lead right up to the end...the skill of all the drivers is simply amazing, as is the skills of the pit crews
and youre right in that there is a whole lot of strategy and tuning right down to things as small as when to take pit stops and the like....

 

[91MR2quickNA]

Exactly. The close racing also makes things exciting and unpredictable. You just never know who is gonna take the checkered. You know, Kyle Busch was the most dominant, fastest car on the track, but the fact that he didn't win, tells you a lot about how things can change in just 1 restart. I'm a big Formula 1 fan, and it'd be great if they could accomplish the same feat, but usually the guys up front have a lead of over 1 minute on the middle field or have lapped up to 6th if they have a really dominant car, so whoever is in the lead is going to win unless they have a catastrophic failure or make a mistake in the pits. I guess that's why they banned traction control to make driver error more of a factor.

 

[Boxedin]

Speaking of dogfights, did anyone notice how in the mid section of the race that Hamlin and Busch kept flip flopping first and second? Did anyone ever figure out why that was? To continue I hope Kyle Busch stays with Toyota, he is exciting! Like most everyone else here, I didn't care too much for Nascar before Toyota came in, now I'm hooked. I am eager to see how the rest of the season goes.

 

[91MR2quickNA]

^ Bonus points.

If you lead a lap, you get 5 bonus points.

Kyle Busch finished 4th at Daytona, but sits 2nd in the points because of the bonus points he earned. He received 5 points for leading a lap, and another 5 points for leading the most laps in the race.

The other JGR drivers, Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart, also received 5 bonus points for leading a lap.

 

[eyeball96]

It pleases me to finally see more NASCAR fans on TN.:thumbup:..I've been a fan my entire life! If u haven't, u need to attend a race...freaken awesome! The skills these guys have and the speed they do, can't be realized just watching it on TV!

 

[ryannel2003]

Rock on :banger: Although I'd still have mad respect for other teams that aren't running a Toyota. Bottomline is that the 4 manufacturers (plus all the teams and drivers) will provide great racing, and the real winners are the fans :thumbup::thumbup:




I agree, Junior wouldn't be the legend that his father was, but I guess that's one of the reasons why he left DEI and gone to a new team, to try to prove himself as a competent racer and not trying to live in his father's shadow. That's very respectable IMO, and I wish him success. I'd be cool to see him drive for Toyota, but I think there'll be a lot of outcries (from hardcore fans especially the Chevy guys) than there is now already. I dunno, I might be wrong.

Personally speaking (in response to your final statement in bold), I used to think like that too, thinking that oval racing is boring and it's just turning left without using the brakes and whatnot. Although I still think like that (to a very low extent) and would like to see Nascar run more road-courses (like Watkins Glen), I have new found respect for the drivers and teams who race Nascar. And now I know that these oval-racings aren't just pedal-to-the-metal and turning left. There're LOTS of knowledge and strategies involved, and knowing how to draft (as a racing driver) is a HUGE deal when you wanna win. There're also a lot involved in suspension and aerodynamics tuning depending on the type of track. Nevertheless, it's not as simple as "just turning left" anymore.

It's great for a racing fan like me to learn lots of new things when being a new fan to another type of racing

I really miss seeing the #3 out on the track. Not only was he a good driver, he was a humble person who was brought up from absolutely nothing. I appreciate people like that, who don't go around and flaunt how much they won or how great they are. Makes me proud that he was from North Carolina, because a lot of people from here that make it big stay true to their roots. I remember watching that whole race ('01 500) and the second he hit the wall and didn't jump out of the car like he always did, that something wasn't good. I was lucky enough to find one of his license plates so now I have it on the front of my car! :thumbup:

As for Junior, he will probably never drive anything other than a Chevy, unfortunately. Like you said, a lot of the southern people (excluding myself) would have a huge outcry over him racing for a Japanese company, even though I find Toyota just as American as any other auto maker. Plus, his father raced Chevy for years so its a tradition (in the beginnings though, Sr. drove a pink Ford on the dirt tracks).

For me, the most exciting tracks on the whole schedule are Martinsville and Bristol. Those two tracks are only a half mile, so the lead is always changing unlike Daytona or Talledega. I never got in to the road course races, kinda uninteresting to me.

 

[eyeball96]

^^^Dude I was born and raised in Bristol! All my family still live there!

"Bristol racin the way is outta be":lol:

 

[mikered30]

Wow, 30 more HP than anyone else, that is impressive, a lot better than last year.

 

[ryannel2003]

"Bristol racin the way is outta be":lol:

Damn right! Not trying to get way off topic, but the Camry is lookin sick, as always! :thumbup:

 

[blacken]

Wow, 30 more HP than anyone else, that is impressive, a lot better than last year.

what engine do they run in nascar ?
i never did get a straight answer when i ask people

It may have been my imagination but
I could have sworn I read 700-800hp NA engines?

what are they running to get that?
Or did i read completely wrong :lol:

I have never been a nascar fan since its just making a left turn
look they are making another left tuuuuurn :lol:

anyways once toyota entered their trucks into the mix and got some attention it cought my eye XD and i just glanced and the boards every once in a while

but now that we have an established team running for toyota that just cought me eye even more that i actually started watching the races and watching the points

now if someone can explain the cars they run id be set XD
cuz i know the camry is FWD the nascars are all RWD

 

[eyeball96]

http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/

^^^^Explore this site! It may help answer some of ur ?'s

 

[mikered30]

Daytona was a restrictor plate race, so they were only had about 450 hp.

 

[blacken]

http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/

^^^^Explore this site! It may help answer some of ur ?'s

nascar sight doesnt explain much XD
search is sub par with a bunch of jargon XD
i just want the juicy details
but yeah the restrictor plate issue i got explained on wiki

lowering the cars power to about 450 but as we saw at daytona XD
the toyotas where still pumping more power than the big 3 cars :clap:

now if thats what they can do with the restrictor plate in place
im sure hp at 700 is posible

but when i went onto the toyota nascar they did say they ran 800hp+ camrys NA
they didnt go into detail as to how many pistons or displacement
what type of design

now im sure thats due to keeping minimal information to your oponents but still

XD

i want a 800hp NA RWD camry XD
that would be totally pimp :smokin: