The last time a foreign maker went to victory lane in the Cup series was in 1954, Al Keller in a Jaguar.
Today at Atlanta, a Toyota driven by Kyle Busch changed that bit of NASCAR history.
You just knew that it was going to be Kyle Busch who got Toyota their first win in Cup. This kid has lead every race so far this season. He has been determined to be the first to Victory Lane for Toyota since the regular season started and his two teammates had given Toyota wins this season.
Denny Hamlin got Toyota their first every Cup win in the non points race, the Bud Shootout in Daytona. And it seemed like that Tony Stewart was going to give Toyota a sweep of the Daytona points races by winning the Daytona 500. But a misstep by Stewart left the foreigner manufacturer having to wait for their first win. (Todd Bodine won the Truck race, Stewart won the Nationwide race)
Toyota got its first Busch Series win with Jason Leffler, who won in 2007 at the July race at O'Reilly Racepark in Indianapolis.
Tony Stewart gave Toyota its first Nationwide race and Gibbs Racing its first points paying race in the Camry.
What I find so ironic is that in all of the points paying races that the Toyotas have won this year in the Cup and Nationwide Series, it has been a 1-2 finish for the Gibbs duo of Stewart and Busch.
Today finally Busch closes the deal and finishes ahead of his teammate.
Congratulations to the 18 team. Finally this team is back in the winner's circle, and it comes at the track in which this team owned back in 1996-2003 with driver Bobby Labonte.
Photo by Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR
Not A Happy Driver
One would think that after three wrecks in two weeks, a driver who finished second would be happy? Right? Wrong.
Tony Stewart let it be known on Friday that he was not happy with Goodyear.
Tony Stewart let it be known on Saturday that he was not happy with the tires that Goodyear brought to the track the last two weekends.
On Sunday after the race in Atlanta, once again Tony Stewart let it be known that he was not happy with Goodyear.
Now I am not one to take issue with Smoke, but I am going to have to take issue with him on something that he said today. He made the comment to the effect that maybe Goodyear should get out of NASCAR. That another tire company could come in like, Hoosier, Firestone or Goodrich could do a better job.
I respectfully disagree with you Stewart. I remember the last tire wars in NASCAR between Hoosier and Goodyear. That was a disaster. If he thinks that they have tire problems now, he should have been around back then.
Granted if Goodyear tests a tire with the whole field, and there are no major problems, maybe Goodyear should bring that tire to the race. Without making any changes to them.
But since I am not an tire engineer, I am not going down that road. But maybe sometimes its is just best to be happy with a second place finish than to run the tire manufacturer up the pole for a third day in the same weekend. Just my humble opinion Mr. Stewart.
Wonder if Smoke is getting nervous about having his back waxed in a few weeks? Maybe that is why Stewart is so agitated with Goodyear?
If NASCAR were to offer the drivers a choice of tires, I think it would open a Pandora's Box. As Tsfan so aptly put it, the last time NASCAR was involved in Tire Wars it was ugly.
Props to Kyle Busch for winning two of the three races this weekend.
jacklucas555 thanks for stopping by. The fact that Tony drives a Toyota is not the issue. The COT took that equation out of the tire issue. Because if it was a manufacturer deal, Toyota would be the only one having a problem.
But they are not the only ones. The problem is across the board. The tire problems has hit all of the manufacturers this year.
Well, if Tony use to be one of your favorites and now he no longer is, well that is too bad for you.
Rubber is burning. Not laying down on the track. Tony has a good point. Tires are the issue. The tests were with a diffrent tire. Why test if that tire isnt used. Anyway Congrats to da Shrub and Smoke 1-2. Rember from Tony and Kyle you will always know how they feel. They are not politicly correct, and I like them for that.
noahspop2001 It seems that there were alot of drivers who were not happy with the tire that Goodyear brought.
I agree that Goodyear needs to test the tire that they are going to use at a race, unless there is some major problem. And I am sure that the drivers would be more than happy to go and retest another tire before the race.
You are right Tony and Kyle are not politically correct. That is the major reason I like them both.
But sometimes, it is best to not voice your ire so loudly as Stewart did all weekend long. That just defeats what he is trying to get done. Because then the tire company becomes angry with him. And they don't want to listen to him.
Like Teddy Roosevelt said once: Walk softly and carry a big stick. Maybe Stewart needs to try and do this when he has a disagreement with someone.
I disagree with you about allowing Good Year to dictate the tires, and therefore the set-ups. All the pros have said that each driver and team has a slightly different style and therefore the set-up. It should be up to the crew chief to decide what tires they wish to run. Good Year could deflect all of this heat, if the teams make the choice and it is a poor one, but as long as they are dictating, and still studying the result weeks later, this is a tail-wagging th dog scenario. It is not the Good Year workers and Exec that are making these inadequate tires it is the competition department that seems like does in headlights! Tony is passionate about his job and life and he has the right to take Good Year to the woodshed when they are jeopardizing both. Okay so it became personal...and OH MY GOD I am now agreeing with Jeff Gordon! What is Good Year doing to us all? Hahaha! Anyway, My pitch is to allow the cars to make the choices and if they make a poor choice, then they have no one to blame bu themselves...as it should be...and is in all other forms of racing!
Goodyear is the tire company that NASCAR has selected so they do dictate which tire they use. That being said, Goodyear should be more flexible to what the drivers who test their tires have to say. It is these drivers who know what they want to feel from the tire. The crew chiefs should have more input.
Sometimes engineers think they and their little computer simulations can build things better than the experience of the human being. That is not so in many things.
I remember the last tire war that NASCAR had. The tire companies were pushing the envelope where safety was concern. There were tires being blown every race. NASCAR had a huge disaster on their hands. They had to do something, or this was going to get really ugly and someone was going to get seriously hurt.
So that is why they NASCAR went to a single tire supplier.
And please do not think I was mad with Smoke for speaking his mind. By no way was I mad with him speaking his mind. Only the way in which he was doing it.
Smoke is my driver. And it is his outspokenness that I like the most about him. But I do not always agree with his way of getting his message across.
