Jason Leffler took his Toyota to the front with two laps to go to give Toyota its first non-truck NASCAR win, a Busch series win at O’Reilly Race Park in Indianapolis. This may be just the stepping stone the manufacturer needs as it seeks its first Nextel Cup win. Busch Series points leader Carl Edwards finished fourth, despite a dislocated thumb, to maintain his huge points lead.
Wins are hard to come by in any division of NASCAR, so Toyota has to feel good about this win. It proves that the manufacturer can race in stock cars, and do so competitvely. In Nextel Cup, each week the Toyota teams are getting stronger.
In Cup qualifying, the Toyota’s of Dave Blaney, Brian Vickers and David Reutimann continued to be the strong qualifiers for the car maker, although when all was said and done, all three were towards the back of the pack. The Toyota’s of A.J. Allmendinger and Dale Jarrett again failed to make the field. One can only trust that as the Car of Tomorrow becomes the only car used, Toyota teams will be able to focus better and make more races.
The top five qualifiers for tomorrow’s Allstate 400 are surprise pole sitter Reed Sorrenson, teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, Ryan Newman, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Kasey Kahne. Four of the top five were in Dodge’s. Points leader Jeff Gordon and teammate Jimmie Johnson will have to start deep in the field.
Cinch up those belts and let’s go racing.
JR
