Is Toyota Ready for ‘08 Sprint Cup Season?

     For Toyota, their hopes of signing on with some past proven veterans to turn the wheels on their machines didn’t play out as well as I am sure they had hoped it would in 2007. That is however to be somewhat expected. With a young program such as Toyota, I am sure that there is many engineering curbs still to hop. By having some experienced drivers behind the wheel, Toyota surely had the information from their cars translated back to them in a manner understandable. What did the younger drivers provide? More than likely they showed Toyota just how far they can push it. Next Year should prove much different because not only does Toyota have a full year under their belt to work from, but they have signed on with Gibbs Racing for 2008 (should be interesting), and are going to have another advantage with the Car Of Tomorrow. Every team in the garage, Ford, Chevy, Dodge, and Toyota are all going to have to develop this thing from scratch. With only a few races under its belt from ‘07 some teams may already have a bunch figured out on the COT, but either way, nobody is that far ahead of the other. I think that there is little doubt though as to whether or not the Gibbs Racing organization has both the Engineering Team, Crew Chiefs, and Drivers to get this program in the win column for 2008. Could we see Toyota in the winners circle at the ‘08 Daytona 500. I’d never count out Tony Stewart, no matter what he’s driving.