By Staff
One the worst kept secrets in recent memory was made official this week. On Wednesday, Joe Gibbs Racing officially announced that the team would compete in Toyota Camrys next season. After 16 years with General Motors, early on with Pontiac and more recently with Chevrolet, the lure of Toyota money and the thought of being the lead team of the manufacturer helped Gibbs make the switch.
This is a huge move for Toyota. They gain three young, very talented drivers in Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, and Kyle Busch with 39 career wins and two championships between them. By comparison, the seven drivers that have driven Toyotas in 2007 have 42 career wins, but have not come remotely close to winning this season.
And, by default, Toyota will gain an additional team as Hall of Fame Racing will switch manufacturers because of their close relationship with Gibbs. In somewhat of surprise move, J..J. Yeley signed to drive the No. 96 HOF car next season. This move came after the announcement that the majority ownership of HOF had been sold to two baseball executives with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Yeley is from Phoenix, so the connection is there and he will still be involved with Gibbs, the team he has driven for the last two years.
What does this mean for Toyota? It means that they will earn the manufacturer's first Cup win early next season. It means that they will be in contention to win every race. It means that the other Toyota teams will become better because of Gibbs' technical expertise.
The question now becomes, how does this affect Toyota's existing teams? I can't imagine Michael Waltrip fielding three teams next season. The most likely defection looks to be David Reutimann, who is being courted heavily by other teams. Bill Davis Racing will continue to operate two cars, with Dave Blaney and most likely Jacques Villeneuve. And the Red Bull teams have been rumored to be considering making the move to Chevrolet, but nothing formal has been announced.
Even though there was significant shuffling among the top 12 drivers after the California race, the top 12 remain the same. There are ways for Dale Earnhardt, Jr. to break into the Chase after this week's race at Richmond, but the chances are long. Kevin Harvick dropped from 10th to 12th position after a rough night at California, 128 points ahead of Junior. Needless to say, Junior will let it all hang out Saturday night at Richmond.
As I have said for the last couple of weeks, I think the Chase field is set and Junior will be the odd man out. However, that shouldn't prevent the Saturday night race at Richmond from being a fun race to watch.
My pick to win the race is the local boy from Chesterfield, Va-Denny Hamlin.