
Toyota's pushrod V-8 for NASCAR.
It was in February 1998, at the unveiling of the Toyota T-150 not nearly full-size pickup that we asked Dave Illingworth, then Toyota's general manager, whether the company had any interest in racing the truck in NASCAR. He confirmed that Toyota already had spoken to NASCAR about what it would take to race in the Craftsman Truck series. Six years later, almost to the day, Toyota jumped in: At Daytona in 2004, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Toyota Tundra made its debut. That first year, Toyota won four races. This year, Toyota will win the overall Craftsman Truck championship and the manufacturer's championship.
The central complaint about Toyota's Nextel Cup effort is that the company is perceived, at least, as spending far more than the other manufacturers, a charge it adamantly rejects. Still, not everyone is convinced.

Testing NASCAR's "Car of Tomorrow": Mike Skinner at Talladega.
When Dodge returned to Nextel Cup in 2001, having had no Dodge compete at that level since 1984, "they had budgets similar to the other manufacturers already in the series," says Dan Davis, director of Ford Racing Technology, "and their approach was similar to everyone else's. So it wasn't as threatening as when Toyota came in with higher budgets. I don't know what their budget is"-and Toyota isn't talking-"but seemingly, it's high. With that, you can command the attention of a lot of people who are established in current programs and uproot them. It's disrupting."

Bill Elliot at Michigan
Davis mentions one of his top engineers who migrated to a Toyota team for triple the salary Davis was paying. "He didn't even ask me to match it, because he knew I couldn't." Other Nextel Cup teams insist the Toyota teams have recruited some of their employees and are forcing existing teams to pay employees more to keep them.
"Toyota will do a good job technically, just like Dodge did. They've done their homework. When another manufacturer is coming in, and you know what they're bringing, that's all manageable," Davis says. But when employees are cherry-picked out of your organization, you can't predict that."
Not the case, says Mike Skinner, who drives a Toyota-sponsored NASCAR Craftsman truck for Bill Davis Racing. Skinner has 242 Nextel Cup starts since 1986, and he's driven Fords, Chevrolets, Dodges, and Pontiacs. He's also been a test driver this year for next year's Camry. Toyota, Skinner says, "just spends smarter." Example: Toyota supplies engineers for Skinner's truck. "The Toyota engineers we use are the Toyota engineers, period. Those other guys use General Motors and Ford and Dodge engineers, plus they have their own full staff of engineers. Toyota is not just going in there and blowing money to buy its way in."
Besides, spending millions is a way of life for the top teams. "That's exactly what Joe Gibbs Racing does. And Roush Racing. And Rick Hendrick Motorsports. And Richard Childress Racing. And Evernham Racing. Those guys spare no expense," says Skinner, who spent a couple seasons as Dale Earnhardt's teammate at Childress Racing.

Two fewer doors, two more cylinders.

Look for these Camrys from Team Red Bull, Michael Waltrip Racing, and Bill Davis Racing at a track near you