Submitted by NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog
Quite possibly the worst kept secret over the last month or so is the fact that JGR would be racing Toyotas next year and despite the best efforts of the foot-in-mouth-red-headed-step-child Kyle Busch of letting the world know about JGR and Toyota, JGR was still adimate that they had not inked a deal with Toyota for next year - until today’s announcement that is.
It is now official, Toyota will be the car of Joe Gibbs Racing and their drivers, Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, and Kyle Busch along with the JGR satellite team of Hall of Fame Racing with JJ Yeley as their driver.
How do you feel about this? To be honest with you, I’m not as upset about it as I thought I would be. This move by JGR makes sense, but if I were Tony Stewart I would be driving even harder to win my third Championship right now because I don’t think he’ll be able to win one with Toyota for about 2 - 3 years. I could be wrong here, but even with heavy weight JGR backing Toyota there are still things that need to be worked out, especially in the engine department. There were some car body issues this year, but the CoT will eliminate those and at least body-wise everyone will be on a level playing field next year.
Toyota isn’t one to sit back either, why do you think they actively recruited a larger profile team for next year? Because the current teams were not living up to the expectations that Toyota has. I have no doubt that JGR already has a bunch of Toyota engines at their shops and are working on them right now and comparing them to the the next generation GM motors that they are running this year.
The move to Toyota makes sense for JGR because they now will be the flagship team of a car company, something they were not with GM. Being the flagship team has its advantages both financially and tech wise, both of which JGR needed for next year.
So how do you feel about this? If you are a Stewart, Hamlin, or Busch fan will you still cheer for them even though they drive Toyotas? Man, I’d find this hard to answer as I’ve been a GM man since day one. Every single car I’ve ever owned has been a GM, except the Honda Civic I bought in University and then sold after. The Civic was the best buy at the time, I had a choice of the Civic, the Ford Escort, or the GM Firefly/Sprint all about the same price - which would have you bought for the same money? Thought so.
I think in this day and age of NASCAR, with the CoT, I would follow my driver as the cars on the track are a far cry from the ones we drive on the street … but still, cheering for a guy in a Toyota? It is just weird. However, if it were Dale Earnhardt driving a Toyota (could you imagine) I would follow him like the sheep that I am.
Update: Home Depot is upset with JGR using Toyotas next year and is considering pulling their sponsorship of the 20 car. IKEA is rumoured to be interested in sponsoring the car if Home Depot pulls its signage off the car. IKEA thinks they would be a perfect fit with the Toyota powered team as they too are a foriegn company in the American market. OK, so I’m pulling your leg, but could you imagine? Think about Tony in those IKEA commercials - those would be painfully fun to watch.
Photo Credit: AP Photo/Chuck Burton Greg Zipadelli and Tony Stewart at Toyota Press Conference.
