Watching qualifying today for this weekend's  UAW Ford500 at Talladega, the one thing that stuck out to me was all the Toyotas at the top of the qualifying board.

7 of the top 10 starting positions will be Toyotas, with one Ford, one Chevy, and one Dodge mixed in.

      I would  imagine a lot of chase drivers taking a conservative approach in qualifying to have a better race setup has a lot to do with it, but  13 of the top 15 drivers are go-or-go-homers this week, and no Toyota will be starting in worse than 9th.         Michael Waltrip getting only his 4th career Pole in 686 races is evidence that most of the "Big Boys" are sandbagging, but  C'mon, this was ridiculous.  

      Is Toyota putting all their eggs in one basket and suddenly trying to focus only on restrictor plate races?    I doubt  it!

   Or was this week's qualifying efforts a perfect example of chase drivers and top 35 points drivers just going through the motions and focusing on preparing the car to run better for the long haul.    Likely!

        It just strikes me as odd that Toyota has such a different apporach than the rest of the manufacturers for this race, and that the other "All-American Racetrack" this side of Daytona will very few American cars in the top 5 rows when the green flag waves.

   You be the judge. Your thought and opinions on the race are appreciated.