Toyota makes history in Atlanta

[Dlyne8r]

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.