Toyota Nextel Cup Cars - Pressing The Throttle

White says when improvements are made, all the teams get the revisions as the trucks cycle through the shop.

"Everyone begins with the same package," he says. "The teams all work together to share information."

Frantic Pace Things will work differently in the Nextel Cup Series, where Toyota has voted Davis the most likely member of its freshman class to succeed.

"He's the guy with the established shop and the crew," says White. "As far behind as BDR will be, the other teams will be in even worse shape."

Unlike Waltrip and Red Bull, Davis will build his own chassis, engines, and bodywork because he is the only one of the three teams with the facilities to handle the task.

TRD will build complete cars for the Red Bull operation and provide Waltrip with engines.

The different levels of support for the three operations will allow Toyota to continue its current manufacturing relationship with the truck team owners, while maintaining a more traditional manufacturer's role in the higher profile Nextel Cup Series.

Toyota submitted a chassis and engine for NASCAR's approval last summer, and the sheetmetal and powerplant are working their way through the inspection process.

"We know there are a few changes NASCAR wants us to make to the engine," White says.

The bodywork is another challenge altogether.

"We submitted a car a year ago just in case we decided to try to make a few races this season," White says.

NASCAR returned the prototype Camry chassis to Toyota for more work. That's probably a good thing, White says. During the time TRD was developing the '06 chassis, Toyota was getting ready to unveil a new car for 2007.

"It wasn't the greatest timing for us," says White.

The prototype with the '07 sheetmetal was scheduled to go to Atlanta Motor Speedway for final testing and approval about June 1, and was to go directly to a nearby government wind tunnel to determine its final aerodynamic configuration.

That meant owners like Davis wouldn't know the final shape of the '07 Camry until the middle of June, assuming the chassis passes NASCAR scrutiny.

"It's going to be a panic after that," says Davis. "I can't begin to imagine how much work we'll have to do. We'll have less than six months to build new cars, get them through the wind tunnel, and make them ready for the new season."

Not only that, but Bill Davis Racing also has to build Toyota versions of the car of today and the car of tomorrow, because both versions will be required in 2007.

His fabrication shop is still cranking out Dodges for Dave Blaney and Michael Waltrip for the remainder of this season.

"The jobs really begin stacking up," he says, "until what we end up with is one enormous task."

Davis believes the cars he'll use to start the '07 season will have the '06 Dodge chassis and will be reskinned with Camry bodywork and fitted with the Toyota powerplant.

"I think that's the only way we can be ready for Daytona," he says.

Davis is used to pressure. Three years ago, he was among the first NASCAR team owners to sign with Toyota and run its Tundra truck chassis.

He helped Toyota do some of the research and development on the new truck, a controversial move that may cost him millions of dollars as the result of a lawsuit by Dodge, which contends Davis gave Toyota proprietary information.