The last straw was witnessing yet another Toyota victory in the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona. The other manufacturers have little chance now that Toyota has seized control of NASCAR’s top series.
The best quote came from Clint Bowyer in the Nationwide race, another category that the foreign manufacturer has dominated this year. The Toyotas, according to Bowyer, simply have too much power.
I’m interested in finding out what NASCAR will do. Great American vehicle manufacturers created this sport.
In 2007, Toyota entered the top two NASCAR divisions. Just ask team owner Jack Roush: Toyota invested TOO much money and hired the best minds in sports. In an effort to make ownership more affordable, NASCAR unveiled the COT in 2007. Teams ended up paying even more money to obtain data on the new vehicle as a result of NASCAR’s limited schedule with the new chassis.
This resulted in one of the most unbalanced seasons in recent memory, with nearly half of NASCAR’s 36 victories going to Hendrick Motorsports. Toyota has won seven of the 18 races so far this year, followed by Chevrolet four times, Dodge four times, and Ford three times. It’s not all that horrible to look at these statistics unless you break them down by driver.
With six victories, Kyle Busch has the most in the series; Carl Edwards is second with three victories. It shouldn’t take NASCAR too long to realize that TOYOTA is the key differentiator.
Since they will likely lose their only championship driver to Haas CNC, I don’t blame Joe Gibbs Racing for switching. However, NASCAR has to examine their 2008 campaign theme, “Back to Basics,” and take action against Toyota’s hegemony in the sport.
In This Article...
Toyota’s entry into NASCAR: Why?
Bootleggers on the run from the law gave birth to NASCAR. The local townspeople enjoyed seeing the free show as the rum runners would tweak their cars to be faster than new cars rolling off the assembly line.
When prohibition ended, bootleggers abandoned their profession to race on makeshift tracks. When NASCAR was established on February 21, 1948, it became recognized as a legitimate sport.
And money is the main source of the opposition from supporters to Toyota’s involvement in racing. It goes without saying that the Formula 1 teams with the highest financial flow have the best chances of success.
Toyota was prevented from competing in NASCAR for nearly ten years due to the widespread concern among fans of the sport about what would transpire if the Japanese automaker entered the competition.
What Characterizes a Toyota NASCAR?
The V8 racing engine in Toyota NASCAR cars has a horsepower rating of 725. Six racing teams receive engines from Southern California-based Toyota Racing Development. For its NASCAR teams, the business produces 350 to 400 racing engines annually. Every Toyota racing engine is constructed utilizing a method that guarantees all engine parts fall inside the limitations established by NASCAR’s regulating body. After the engines are constructed, Toyota Racing Development puts them through testing using a dynamometer, which calculates the engines’ horsepower and torque. This enables the engine’s designers to keep track of how the engine performs at high RPM.
How did Joe Gibbs decide to go with Toyota?
It might have taken place. Since the beginning, Joe Gibbs Racing has been a part of General Motors, first with Chevrolet, then with Pontiac, and again with Chevrolet. Tony Stewart, a driver, has a lengthy personal relationship with GM.
Furthermore, Toyota’s entry into NASCAR racing in 2007 was disastrous; their assortment of third-tier and startup teams found it difficult to even qualify for races, let alone perform well. Michael Waltrip’s automobile was reportedly seized by Toyota so that they could examine it and figure out why it was moving so slowly.
Gibbs understood that Childress would always be in front of him and that he would never be one of the top teams at GMHendrick. He thus gambled and relocated his group to Toyota in 2008. When they were successful, they astounded everyone, possibly even more so than with GM.
Imagine if Gibbs hadn’t opted for Toyota. Toyota would be gone, along with their teams. Racing by Michael Waltrip Gone. Red Bull Motorsports? Gone. Bill Davis Motorsports They have left whether Gibbs is there or not.
Gibbs demonstrated to Toyota that money cannot substitute experience, you see. All of the Toyota teams were essentially factory teams when Toyota arrived, and they filled their teams with cash. Everything they required was present.
When Gibbs started driving Toyotas, they were able to exchange nuggets of knowledge that helped all the teamsfrom engines to chassisimprove. For their own benefit, they needed the other Toyota teams to do better as well; otherwise, Toyota may abandon the sport totally and leave Gibbs once more hanging out to dry. As a result, they were unable to keep this information to themselves.
The Nationwide Series, what about it? Before Toyota, JGR was a respectable Nationwide team that occasionally triumphed like the others. But after they moved to Toyota, something strange happened. They suddenly had complete control.
2008 saw 20 of the 35 races won by JGR drivers, including an astonishing eight straight victories. With 35 races, their success persisted in 2009. Numerous rule modifications were implemented by NASCAR, the majority of which are said to have been made expressly to hinder Gibbs and the Toyotas.
Since Jimmie Johnson has occupied the championship position for the past four years, many people (including The Racing Tool) believe that Joe Gibbs Racing and Denny Hamlin are the team with the best chance of unseating them.
The long-established NASCAR teams panicked when Toyota started getting ready for a Sprint Cup attempt in 2007 because of all the money the manufacturer was investing into the endeavor.
Then, in 2007, they made a grand entrance at Daytona with a daring plunge from a cliff. Toyota’s attempt was saved by Joe Gibbs Racing. Things today wouldn’t look the same without Gibbs.
Is Dodge returning to NASCAR?
The Tony Stewart rumors are still going strong if you want to see Dodge return to NASCAR’s premier series. Given that Stewart-Haas Racing is now bound by a contract with Ford Performance through the conclusion of the 2023 season, the most recent reports suggest that Dodge might make a comeback in 2024.
What caused Dodge to quit NASCAR?
Dodge left the competition following Brad Keselowski’s 2012 victory, despite creating a Gen-6 vehicle. Because it was unable to locate a flagship team to take the position of departed Penske Racing, the American carmaker withdrew its backing.
Why don’t Chrysler vehicles compete in NASCAR?
Dodge was able to field teams despite Chrysler’s bankruptcy, a severe recession, a lack of finance from cash-strapped Dodge dealers who were retreating due to the shoddy restructuring, and several ownership changes.
Toyota resigning from NASCAR?
Toyota will undoubtedly stop competing in NASCAR now that the corporation has declared its exit from Formula 1. We can all unwind. Toyota will continue to race stock cars in America. The news was confirmed on Saturday by Toyota Racing Development President Lee White.
What automaker has taken home the most NASCAR victories?
The winner of the NASCAR Manufacturers’ Championship is chosen by the organization based on a points system that takes race results into account. In 1952, Hudson received the Manufacturers’ Championship for the first time.
For the purposes of the Championship, various car make/engine combinations are regarded as different manufacturers. The Manufacturer’s Championship points were up until the 2013 season determined by aggregating the points earned in each race by the driver who finished first or second for that manufacturer. The winning manufacturer receives nine points, while the manufacturer who placed second receives six points. Manufacturers who rank third and fourth respectively receive four and three points. [1] From the 2014 season forward, NASCAR will follow the Owner’s Championships’ points system. According to this method, the top-finishing driver for each manufacturer receives all of the points their team earned during the race, plus extra points for victories and laps led. [2]
Only nine different manufacturers have taken home the trophy in the 60 seasons that the championship has been given out. With 40 titles, Chevrolet has had the most success. Ford is the second-most prosperous, with 17 titles.
The Toyota Nascar engines are produced by who?
As the main supplier for Toyota Racing Development, Triad engines have powered Toyota entries in all three of NASCAR’s national series: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup, Xfinity, and Camping World Truck (TRD).
Will NASCAR switch to electric racing?
On February 5, 2023, at the Busch Clash in Los Angeles, a demonstration race will be run as part of NASCAR’s rumored efforts to launch its own electric racing series. According to reports, the electric NASCAR race cars will be all-wheel drive, operate on a 900-volt design, and produce more than 1,000 horsepower owing to three electric motors.
Kickin’ the Tires, a website devoted to motorsport with an emphasis on NASCAR, broke the news of this parallel electric racing series. It claimed to have obtained screenshots from a leaked document that also revealed the series will run for six races and be in sync with the NASCAR Cup Series.
There would be 12 vehicles competing in each race, which would have two 30-minute legs with no charging or battery swapping allowed. The source article quotes Steve O’Donnell, the NASCAR Chief Operating Officer, who remarked in March that
As everyone is aware, there is a significant push among all of our OEM partners and possibly new OEM partners, therefore it is crucial for us to investigate the options surrounding an exhibition series in that area.
I believe that our current partners are really interested in participating in that, but we view NASCAR as a location where, in an ideal world, we would be everything to everyone. Therefore, if you attended a NASCAR event weekend, you may observe any technologies you desired during the race weekend; as a result, we will examine an electric series.
NASCAR did formally state that starting in 2024, hybrid powertrains would be used. The Next Gen car, the new competition vehicle for 2022, has already undergone significant changes. It now produces significantly more downforce, indicating that it has been designed to handle significantly more power than it does now. As a result, we may witness an increase in power with the introduction of hybrid (and eventually fully-electric) powertrains.
The leaked paper also mentioned how the electric NASCAR vehicle would match the primary competition vehicle’s performance level with over 1,000 horsepower, which makes us assume that future hybrid NASCAR vehicles may also have over 1,000 horsepower. The power output of the Next Gen automobile has already increased over the previous generation, jumping from 410 horsepower to 670 horsepower.