Michael Waltrip has twice won the Great American Race. Now he'll be a pioneer in NASCAR's great Japanese experiment. A two-time Daytona 500 winner, Waltrip will own and drive for one of three teams that plan to field Toyota Camrys in NASCAR's top series starting in 2007.
The other teams to run the series' first foreign cars in a half-century are Bill Davis Racing, a veteran of Cup competition, and Team Red Bull, already a big player in motorsports but a newcomer to NASCAR.
All three will field two Camry drivers in the 2007 Nextel Cup series, Toyota officials announced Tuesday night. The Japanese auto maker is the first foreign manufacturer to supply cars for America's top stock car series since Jaguar ran in several races in the 1950s.
Waltrip currently drives for Bill Davis racing, which will have to replace him after the upcoming season. The team's other driver, Dave Blaney, is slated to drive the Toyota in 2007.
"I never thought I would be a car owner in the Cup series," Waltrip said Tuesday night. "But then I thought, if I can plug into this, I can go race with these guys. ... Now I've got cars. I can race these people."
Waltrip established a team devoted mainly to the Busch Series nearly a decade ago, and began fielding cars in the Cup Series on a limited basis the past few years. No drivers were named for Waltrip's second Toyota or either of the Red Bull cars.
Bill Davis Racing has been a regular competitor in the NASCAR Cup Series since 1993. Davis established a relationship with Toyota by fielding three Tundra trucks in the Craftsman series in 2004.
Team Red Bull will be based in Mooresville, N.C., and stock car veteran Marty Gaunt will serve as the team's general manager.
"Based on our motorsports experience, we know the importance of working with experienced teams and partners," said Jim Aust, vice president of Toyota Motorsports and president and CEO of Toyota Racing Development, U.S.A. "We have developed excellent relationships with Bill Davis and the Waltrip family and look forward to developing a similar relationship with the Red Bull team as Toyota joins one of the world's most competitive racing series."
Toyota began competing in NASCAR in the 2000 Goody's Dash Series and for the past two years has raced in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
