by Joe Beasley

Created on: February 17, 2009

The newest manufacturer to step into the Nascar jungle is Toyota. Toyota Joined the Nascar Sprint Cup Series starting with the 2007 season and was met with mixed reaction from other fans, drivers, and car owners. Toyota's first year in Sprint Cup did not go as well as many would have liked. They did not earn a single victory, and had no driver competing for the Sprint Cup trophy. Alot of the lack of success in the initial season was due to not having a driver capable of competing on a weekly basis, as well as learning and developing the Toyota racing engine.

2008 brought many changes for Toyota's Sprint Cup efforts. The main addition was Joe Gibbs racing, a powerhouse team running Chevrolet's, switching to Toyota. This gave Toyota not only a major team representing its company, but also major league drivers that could compete for wins and championships.

To no one's surprise, Toyota scored its first ever Sprint Cup win very early in the 2008 season. March 9th, 2008 will always be remembered as the day Toyota scored its first of many Nascar Sprint Cup victories. Not surprising, Joe Gibbs racing scored that elusive win for Toyota with Kyle Busch in the #18 Toyota Camry at the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Since that day, Toyota has scored several wins, including 8 in 2008 by Kyle Busch alone. While Busch dominated the 26 race regular season, he performed poorly in the 10 race Chase for the Sprint Cup, and finished in 10th in the season standings, althogh he led the majority of the season before the chase began.

2009 appears to be another good effort for Toyota. Kyle Busch is sure to score his share of trophy's during the sprint cup season. Michael Waltrip Racing, which also drives for Toyota, appears to be heading in the right direction with its race team, Denny Hamlin seems ready to have a break-out year in the Joe Gibbs Racing #20, and newcomer and 18 year old phenom Joey Lagano should provide some excitement and maybe even a victory or two in his rookie season with crew chief Greg Zippadelli and the #20 Home depot team made famous by Tony Stewart.

While Stewarts departure from Joe Gibbs racing certainly hurts Toyota, Most would say that the peices are still in place for the Manufacturer to have a very solid year with its racing Camry. Three drivers have been consitent picks to win the 2009 Sprint Cup. Carl Edwards in the Ford Fusion, Jimmie Johnson in the Chevrolet Impala, and Kyle Busch in the Toyota Camry. To sum up Toyota's performance in the Sprint Cup series, they have one of the three drivers favored to win it all in 2009. There is not much Toyota could ask for in any given season in Nascar.

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