Win or Lose, Toyota Comes Out Big at ‘Dega

It’s no secret that 2008 has been a horrid first year in Cup racing for Toyota, but things have already seemed to have taken a turn for the better this weekend at Talladega.  In a season that has produced no wins, a couple poles, and very few Top 5 finishes (or even decent finishes, for that matter), Toyota team owners can finally lift at least a small piece of that burden off their shoulders because for the first time in NASCAR Nextel Cup history, the starting front row of Sunday’s race will be comprised solely of Toyota’s.  Michael Waltrip turned a lap time of 50.648 to qualify for his first Bud Pole since Pocono of 2005 followed by Dave Blaney’s run of 50.71.  Toyota also landed five other drivers in the Top 10 qualifying results … Brian Vickers, Dave Reutimann, Jacques Villeneuve, Dale Jarrett, and AJ Allmendinger.

Now, we all know that qualifying is by no means the “be all, say all” in racing, especially at a track of this nature and especially in this level.  In fact, I’m personally not expecting Toyota’s qualifying results to translate into too much when we look over the final race results on Sunday night.  However, we also have to look at the fact that a few of these drivers have experienced some success at Talladega running for other brands.  Brian Vickers picked up his only Cup victory here last year will running Rick Hendrick’s Chevrolet, Michael Waltrip co-dominated this track for several years with DEI teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Dale Jarrett has won here in the past as well.  I’d expect that maybe one or two of these guys might bring home a Top 10 finish, but even still, I firmly believe that Toyota has made some huge strides with their combined effort this weekend.  Hats off to them.