MJMANDALAY
01-30-2007, 10:46 PM
LAS VEGAS - Toyota is entering the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series as the Wizard of Oz - Imposing. Scary. Mysterious.
The other manufacturers (Chevrolet, Ford and Dodge) have been raising a stink about Toyota's vast resources and the foreign car company's ability to steal their best and smartest crewmen. All fear the great and powerful Toyota.
But, at least for now, there's nothing behind the curtain. Toyota managed just a whimper out of its eight teams during the first day of NASCAR Nextel Cup preseason testing in Las Vegas on Monday.
The manufacturer had two cars in the top 33 of the morning session, then followed that up with one car in top 35 of the afternoon.
Dodge driver Kasey Kahne had the fastest speed of the day, topping 184 miles per hour in an effort that would have broken the old track record by 10 mph.
Chevy's Clint Bowyer was second, followed by Carl Edwards, J.J. Yeley and Ricky Rudd.
The top 12 times of the day around the newly configured track were posted in the late session.
The worst performance of the day might have come from four-time series champion Jeff Gordon, whose two cars were 71st and 72nd in the morning, followed by 41st and 50th in the afternoon.
Scott Riggs led the morning session, edging Tony Stewart, Kahne, Kevin Harvick and Dave Blaney.
Former Chino Hills resident David Gilliland was 17th in the morning session, but slipped to 48th in the afternoon.
Testing continues with two more sessions today.
UNHAPPY REUNION
Greg Biffle separated his shoulder, suffered a concussion with blurred vision and destroyed his favorite race car the last time he visited Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
In fact, he was somewhat fortunate to survive the fiery wreck that occurred during a December tire test.
So Biffle was hopeful the return trip this week would be far less eventful.
Those hopes ended when Biffle hit the Turn 2 wall and smashed another car Monday afternoon.
Biffle was treated and released from the infield care center.
That's significant because after the December crash, Biffle accused the track safety team of being slow to respond and of mishandling his injury.
Track officials issued a contentious response, and Biffle apparently met with some of the safety workers on Monday morning to clear the air.
Unfortunately, the Roush Racing driver had to meet them again on Monday afternoon.
Tony Raines and Reed Sorenson were also involved in wrecks - both in Turn 4 - and Clint Bowyer blew an engine.
With 15 minutes left in the afternoon session, Kahne spun and wrecked the left front of his car.
That followed lunchtime remarks in which he said the team didn't need to build any new 1.5-mile cars during the offseason because all the ones from last year were in tact.
STRANGE SCENES
When the drivers hit the track, it was comforting to see familiar car numbers like the 6 and the 88 thundering around like always.
Of course, those numbers belong to Mark Martin and Dale Jarrett, who ... oops!
On second thought, seeing those cars without their longtime drivers bordered on surreal.
After 18 years, Martin moved from the Roush Racing Ford to the No. 01 Ginn Racing Chevrolet.
Jarrett left Robert Yates Racing's Ford for the No. 44 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota and took sponsor UPS with him.
Rookie David Ragan is replacing Martin at Roush, while Yates lured Ricky Rudd out of retirement to team with Gilliland.
Other odd sights included seeing Casey Mears in Hendrick Motorsports' No. 25 Chevrolet, Jeremy Mayfield in the new No. 36 Bill Davis Racing Toyota and Brian Vickers in the No. 83 Team Red Bull Toyota.
The other manufacturers (Chevrolet, Ford and Dodge) have been raising a stink about Toyota's vast resources and the foreign car company's ability to steal their best and smartest crewmen. All fear the great and powerful Toyota.
But, at least for now, there's nothing behind the curtain. Toyota managed just a whimper out of its eight teams during the first day of NASCAR Nextel Cup preseason testing in Las Vegas on Monday.
The manufacturer had two cars in the top 33 of the morning session, then followed that up with one car in top 35 of the afternoon.
Dodge driver Kasey Kahne had the fastest speed of the day, topping 184 miles per hour in an effort that would have broken the old track record by 10 mph.
Chevy's Clint Bowyer was second, followed by Carl Edwards, J.J. Yeley and Ricky Rudd.
The top 12 times of the day around the newly configured track were posted in the late session.
The worst performance of the day might have come from four-time series champion Jeff Gordon, whose two cars were 71st and 72nd in the morning, followed by 41st and 50th in the afternoon.
Scott Riggs led the morning session, edging Tony Stewart, Kahne, Kevin Harvick and Dave Blaney.
Former Chino Hills resident David Gilliland was 17th in the morning session, but slipped to 48th in the afternoon.
Testing continues with two more sessions today.
UNHAPPY REUNION
Greg Biffle separated his shoulder, suffered a concussion with blurred vision and destroyed his favorite race car the last time he visited Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
In fact, he was somewhat fortunate to survive the fiery wreck that occurred during a December tire test.
So Biffle was hopeful the return trip this week would be far less eventful.
Those hopes ended when Biffle hit the Turn 2 wall and smashed another car Monday afternoon.
Biffle was treated and released from the infield care center.
That's significant because after the December crash, Biffle accused the track safety team of being slow to respond and of mishandling his injury.
Track officials issued a contentious response, and Biffle apparently met with some of the safety workers on Monday morning to clear the air.
Unfortunately, the Roush Racing driver had to meet them again on Monday afternoon.
Tony Raines and Reed Sorenson were also involved in wrecks - both in Turn 4 - and Clint Bowyer blew an engine.
With 15 minutes left in the afternoon session, Kahne spun and wrecked the left front of his car.
That followed lunchtime remarks in which he said the team didn't need to build any new 1.5-mile cars during the offseason because all the ones from last year were in tact.
STRANGE SCENES
When the drivers hit the track, it was comforting to see familiar car numbers like the 6 and the 88 thundering around like always.
Of course, those numbers belong to Mark Martin and Dale Jarrett, who ... oops!
On second thought, seeing those cars without their longtime drivers bordered on surreal.
After 18 years, Martin moved from the Roush Racing Ford to the No. 01 Ginn Racing Chevrolet.
Jarrett left Robert Yates Racing's Ford for the No. 44 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota and took sponsor UPS with him.
Rookie David Ragan is replacing Martin at Roush, while Yates lured Ricky Rudd out of retirement to team with Gilliland.
Other odd sights included seeing Casey Mears in Hendrick Motorsports' No. 25 Chevrolet, Jeremy Mayfield in the new No. 36 Bill Davis Racing Toyota and Brian Vickers in the No. 83 Team Red Bull Toyota.