NASCAR Notebook Toyota talk continues around Gibbs, Harvick
COMPILED BY MIKE MULHERN
• Toyota continues to make headlines - and waves in the NASCAR garage - as the Japanese auto maker rolls toward its Daytona 500 Nextel Cup debut next February.
There is still no word on which drivers Toyota might back, but Toyota may be making a run at car owner Joe Gibbs, with hopes of persuading the veteran Chevy man, and his three-man team of Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and J. J. Yeley, to jump to the Camry brigade, according to sources.
Chevy's Kevin Harvick continues to be a focal point of Toyota speculation. However, there is word that Harvick may be under consideration by Ford's Jack Roush for a driving job next season, though Harvick insists "I've not talked with Jack Roush, and I don't know Geoff Smith (Roush's contract attorney)."
Smith was not here to discuss the situation, and Roush demurred: "I hear Toyota goes with Kevin Harvick, and there's not a Toyota in my future."
Car owner Richard Childress, when asked about the Harvick-Roush report, offered only a no-comment smile. And Childress said "there's no timetable" for him and Harvick to conclude their contract renegotiations, even though the two had said in January and again in February that "the first of April" was when they wanted to make a decision.
"What I do know," Roush said, "is Toyota just hired (engineer) John Propst from Ford, and that gives Toyota access to everything all the Ford teams have known about the engineering of the cars, and that's a cheeky move by Toyota, and it's certainly a coup for Toyota.
"The thing that is more distressing is Toyota is in position to make their own tires, with its relationship with Bridgestone....
"And I've heard Toyota has acquired 100 acres of land in Charlotte to put together a test track."
Roush himself once looked at a Charlotte test track, but he said that was more of a perimeter road as a shakedown track, at the entrance to an industrial park, rather than a pure test track.
• Goodyear's new Charlotte tires have become a major issue over the past two weeks, with drivers and crews increasingly worried about what might lie ahead at that track.
One question: Why hasn't Goodyear asked Ryan Newman to test its new tires? Newman is usually one of the sport's fastest qualifiers, and he has been one of Goodyear's sharpest critics lately.
Don Miller, with the Newman-Roger Penske team, said Goodyear appears to be trapped in no-man's land, with NASCAR and track promoters demanding tires that will allow drivers to pass, rather than simply the safest tire possible. Others, however, said they are baffled that Goodyear seems to have so many tire problems since it has no competition in NASCAR.
Regardless, Miller says "The whole thing comes down to one simple thing - build a tire that will run a full gas stop (100 miles). Stop messing around with all these fancy designs that are supposed to enhance the competition, because it's obvious they don't add to the competition.
"Now, they're giving us another crutch, with the smaller fuel tank, so we don't run long enough to blow the sides of the tire off."
Another car owner has suggested that NASCAR scrap its exclusivity contract with Goodyear and open up the sport to competition from rivals like Bridgestone and Michelin.
But Miller doesn't agree: "We've proved that a tire war is disastrous in this series.
"We need a tire that is reliable and safe, and we know Goodyear can build because they have in the past.
"Let Goodyear build us a tire that is safe and that we can run 100 miles on."
COMPILED BY MIKE MULHERN
• Toyota continues to make headlines - and waves in the NASCAR garage - as the Japanese auto maker rolls toward its Daytona 500 Nextel Cup debut next February.
There is still no word on which drivers Toyota might back, but Toyota may be making a run at car owner Joe Gibbs, with hopes of persuading the veteran Chevy man, and his three-man team of Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and J. J. Yeley, to jump to the Camry brigade, according to sources.
Chevy's Kevin Harvick continues to be a focal point of Toyota speculation. However, there is word that Harvick may be under consideration by Ford's Jack Roush for a driving job next season, though Harvick insists "I've not talked with Jack Roush, and I don't know Geoff Smith (Roush's contract attorney)."
Smith was not here to discuss the situation, and Roush demurred: "I hear Toyota goes with Kevin Harvick, and there's not a Toyota in my future."
Car owner Richard Childress, when asked about the Harvick-Roush report, offered only a no-comment smile. And Childress said "there's no timetable" for him and Harvick to conclude their contract renegotiations, even though the two had said in January and again in February that "the first of April" was when they wanted to make a decision.
"What I do know," Roush said, "is Toyota just hired (engineer) John Propst from Ford, and that gives Toyota access to everything all the Ford teams have known about the engineering of the cars, and that's a cheeky move by Toyota, and it's certainly a coup for Toyota.
"The thing that is more distressing is Toyota is in position to make their own tires, with its relationship with Bridgestone....
"And I've heard Toyota has acquired 100 acres of land in Charlotte to put together a test track."
Roush himself once looked at a Charlotte test track, but he said that was more of a perimeter road as a shakedown track, at the entrance to an industrial park, rather than a pure test track.
• Goodyear's new Charlotte tires have become a major issue over the past two weeks, with drivers and crews increasingly worried about what might lie ahead at that track.
One question: Why hasn't Goodyear asked Ryan Newman to test its new tires? Newman is usually one of the sport's fastest qualifiers, and he has been one of Goodyear's sharpest critics lately.
Don Miller, with the Newman-Roger Penske team, said Goodyear appears to be trapped in no-man's land, with NASCAR and track promoters demanding tires that will allow drivers to pass, rather than simply the safest tire possible. Others, however, said they are baffled that Goodyear seems to have so many tire problems since it has no competition in NASCAR.
Regardless, Miller says "The whole thing comes down to one simple thing - build a tire that will run a full gas stop (100 miles). Stop messing around with all these fancy designs that are supposed to enhance the competition, because it's obvious they don't add to the competition.
"Now, they're giving us another crutch, with the smaller fuel tank, so we don't run long enough to blow the sides of the tire off."
Another car owner has suggested that NASCAR scrap its exclusivity contract with Goodyear and open up the sport to competition from rivals like Bridgestone and Michelin.
But Miller doesn't agree: "We've proved that a tire war is disastrous in this series.
"We need a tire that is reliable and safe, and we know Goodyear can build because they have in the past.
"Let Goodyear build us a tire that is safe and that we can run 100 miles on."