Toyota makes history in Atlanta

Ok SmootSmack, I'm following your lead here w/ a thread dedicated to yesterdays NASCAR race held here in Atlanta. Hope I'm not being too redundant given that others have commented briefly about this race.

Anyway, so far this year the Toyotas have been very impressive and it was just a matter of time before they saw checkers first. I had asked those that keep up with NASCAR on this forum before if anyone recalled an account of the Toyotas having a significant amount of additional horsepower compared to the other makes and I didn't see a response. Can anyone verify this? If this is true, then how did this come about and why was Toyota given such a huge concession that surely would give them what I consider an unfair advantage?

If I sound a little "anti-Toyota," congratulations, you are correct. Even though a 350Z and a Altima SE-R reside in our garage and I'm totally in the tank for Nissan (and other Japanese vehicles), I still do not like a "foreign" entry into what I think of as an American automobile race. I'd like to hear what others think as well. Am I way off base here?

With that said, I don't necessarily pull for Joe Gibbs NASCAR teams anymore since leaving the GM stable, but I'm still a huge JG fan, just solely via his Redskin affiliation. However, and I'm DEFINATELY not a Tony Stewart fan by any means, but I really appreciated his candid comments re: the Goodyear tire debacle in his post race interview. Very refreshing to hear someone speak out about an issue that has put each and every driver at risk even before the COT was implemented. Stewart didn't toe the company line (NASCAR) and apparently he has many other drivers echoeing his sentiments. Hopefully NASCAR and Goodyear will get there s**t together before someone gets seriously injured or worse.

It's not true. Jack Roush and Kevin Harvick had done some complaining, but dynometer tests showed that there is no unfair advantage for Toyota. Yes, they had more horsepower but that's because they invest and JGR has some of the best engineers. There's nothing illegal in that.

No concession was given. Anyone who has followed Toyota's entry into other motor sports, coupled with the COT, and not to mention the talent at JGR (drivers, crew, and engineers) should not be surprised with how they are performing so far.

Every year I watch the Daytona 500 then fizzle and dont' watch anymore races. This year its been different. I think it has a lot to do with JG racing going to Toyota. I'm a fan of Toyota after selling them for several years. Also, it has much do to with the High Def. Wow. It looks awesome in HD.

I don't know enough to comment on the rules, but as far as being biased, Toyota has actually brought me to NASCAR.

i think my brother (an actual neckcar fan) said the first year toyota did with other's have done... stink it up so they could get an advantage for a year or two down the road...

either way, i don't think any car company is as ready to sink huge sums of cash into nascar as toyota. they've been trying to get this thing going for a long time, and it's good that they've got something out of it already.

i really don't know enough about either subject to say much more than that, and even that may be stretching it...

I have been a fan of JGR since it was created. The cars and drivers only mean something because of thier affiliation with the owner. The only thing left on any car in NASCAR from the maker is the logo and some of the body design. "There is nothing stock about a stock car". Parts for these cars come from around the globe. My point is that the maker of the car is nothing more than a higher level sponser.

Was it just my telecast here, or was Tony Stewart cut off in his post race interview? He was bitching about the goodyear tires (and I actually agree with him for once), and then bam, the network went into a commercial. ANyone else have that problem?