Drive Drive Drive - Did the change in cars help Toyota?

Did the change in cars help Toyota?

would it have taken longer tor Toyota to win if nascar was still in the old cars

Public Comments

Not necessarly. Im sure it would of been at the same pace as then, if not a little better. Remember, last season, all Toyota had was 2 upstart teams, and 1 team that had its best days behind them. You are not gonna get the results. You also have to figure that the COT would be the car for 2008, so it would be foolish to invest a ton of resources on a car that would be obsolete after the season was done. I would say though, had Gibbs jumped on board in 2007 instead of 2008, you would of at least saw better results, at least comparable, if not slightly better, to what Evernham and Ganassi had in Dodge's first season.
No, the Gibbs team is strong and they are going to find a way to win in just about anything.
Not Really becaue Chevy-Ford-Dodge AND Toyota used the COT in 2007!!!!!!!!
No I don't think the change of car mattered that much. Toyota now has a year under their belt in the NASCAR series and are acclimated to what it takes to win there now. I also think a change of some drivers over to Toyota, such as the Gibbs drivers was huge for the company and made them much more competitive!
It definitely is easier for Toyota to only have one chassis to to worry about but the same could be said for all the struggling teams. It think it would have taken them a little longer had they not gone to the COT exclusively this year.
Getting Gibbs to run Toyota was what helped. Michael Waltrip Racing was a new team who was at least familiar with NASCAR. Red Bull was a brand new team with no NASCAR experience. Bill Davis Racing was a loser before Toyota came to NASCAR. Not really the teams you build success from since none of them had any before at any time.
Signing Gibbs is what made toyota so good. JGR has been an established team for 16 seasons. Doesnt take a genius to figure out that they were going to win races. Now all the bandwagoners that jumped over to hendrick last year cause they were winning, will jump over to JGR because they are winning. Some people never cease to amaze me. I will support tony and jgr for as long as they are racing. Everyone was saying that when they switch to toyota all they are going to be doing is riding in the back, man is everyone eating crow this year. And how about this--TOYOTA AND JGR'S KYLE BUSCH HAS WON BEFORE GORDON, JOHNSON, AND EVERYONE'S BELOVED DALE JR GO FIGURE!!! JGR AND SMOKE RULES!!!
No. The Toyota's had the most aerodynamic car of them all, as shown by David Reutimann's near win in the 2007 Aaron's 499. It would have taken longer though, if J.J. Yeley was still in the 18, or if Joe gibbs hadn't even signed onto Toyota. Joe Gibbs build engines for Toyota Racing Development, and the Toyota engines - when assembled correctly with no rocket fuel additives - get about 775 HP, which is about 10 more than Dodge and 25 more than Ford or Chevy.
The only reason Toyota won was simply because some mechanic didnt fill the transmission fluid in the 99 all the way up last sunday. It overheated and blew and killed the 99 for the race.
They have a completely different engine package. It was a "special one" last year.
I think it would have been about the same but that 30 extra horsepower is helping big time !
I think the real reason why Toyota is better this season is Joe Gibbs Racing. The Toyota program improve immeausrably by getting JGR to their camp. The combination of a well-funded team like JGR with great personnel both on and off the track and the resources of Toyota was a match that guarantees success. You can also see the trickle-down theory with Brian Vickers and Red Bull Racing undoubtedly benefitting from knowledge and insight gleaned from JGR to propel Vickers into the top 10 coming into this week. We will never know the answer to your question about would it have taken Toyota longer to win without the car change.
Toyota bought Gibbs' knowledge of the COT. If they had started a team from scratch they would have been in trouble.
Oh yea, Thats why they came in when they did in my opinion
Toyota is better this year because of Joe Gibbs...has nothing to do with old or new cars