Autoblog

Formula One has lacked an American hero for a long time now, and with Scott Speed gone from the paddock, the land of the free and home of the brave lacks a standard-bearer to represent one the biggest motorsport cultures in the world at the pinnacle of racing. Several drivers, however, are lining up for the opportunity.

The first step for any aspiring F1 driver is always a test. The bigger the team, the better. We recently brought you news of Danica Patrick's potential test with Honda, while racing scion Marco Andretti was likewise linked with a Honda test. Next up to bat is Kyle Busch, who is finagling his way into a Toyota F1 car at the end of the year for a trial run in Japan. Busch, who currently leads the NASCAR Sprint Cup in points driving a "Toyota Camry", says he'll see how he manages on a road course and with the tremendous strain on the neck endured by trained F1 drivers before he speculates on a potential switch in racing series. However, Juan Pablo Montoya, who made the switch in the opposite direction, remains skeptical. Montoya did a similar swap at Indy with Jeff Gordon when Juan Pablo was at Williams-BMW.

Meanwhile Graham Rahal dismissed the prospect of moving to F1 like his father Bobby had, reasoning that "If you're not with McLaren or Ferrari, you're not going to win a race." The young Rahal elaborated that with open-wheel racing reunited in America, he'd be happy to stay put.

[Sources: Autosport and F1-Live, Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty]

Click above for high-res gallery from Kobalt Tools 500

When the clocks ticked over to 2008, Toyota Motorsports VP Jim Aust declared that the Camry would not go winless this season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup like it did during its inaugural season last year. Things got off to a good start during qualifying for the Daytona 500 when Toyota went 1-2 in the second Gatorade Duel qualifying race. This past weekend, history repeated itself when Joe Gibbs Racing had a pair of Camry cars go 1-2 again, but this time on race day at the Kobalt Tools 500. Kyle Busch in the No. 18 Camry won last weekend's race at Atlanta Motor Speedway with teammate Tony Stewart taking silver, both driving Cup cars festooned with Camry stickers. Not only did Kyle Busch win the race, but he remains atop the points standing after previous points leader Carl Edwards got penalized for something to do with his oil tank lid at last week's race in Las Vegas. Many of the drivers also complained after the race about their tires that were supplied by Goodyear, with Tony Stewart, always ready to give a good quote, saying, "If I were Goodyear, I'd be really embarrassed about this weekend and what they brought us here." Nevertheless, he and teammate Busch pulled out the win for Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota. Looks like it's gonna be a good year for the imports in NASCAR.


[Source: MSN.foxsports.com, Photos by John Harrelson, Chris McGrath, Chris Gaythen, Chris Trotman/Getty]]

Toyota has just raised its profile in NASCAR's top racing series. For the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup (née NEXTEL Cup) season, Joe Gibbs Racing will trade in its Chevrolets for Toyota Camrys (or at least cars with Toyota Camry headlight and grille stickers decorating their noses). In terms of star power, it means that Toyota picks up some very big names in Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, and Denny Hamlin. Stewart showed how receptive he was to the change by announcing plans to sign a contract extension with JGR that keeps him on the NFL coaching legend's race team through the '09 season.

In a piece he wrote for FOXSports.com, Darryl Waltrip (whose brother Michael's team also runs Toyotas) said that the deal is a boon for both Toyota and JGR, because the adoption of the Car of Tomorrow for the full season next year basically levels the playing field where the cars themselves are concerned. The engines will be the difference-makers on the technical front. Waltrip feels that Gibbs' excellent engineering team will work wonders with the Toyota race engine, and that the JGR Camrys should be competitive right away. We'll see how right or wrong he is on Sunday, February 17, 2008, when the green flag waves at Daytona.

Follow the jump for press releases from Toyota and JGR.

Thanks for the tip, Saimin.

[Sources: Toyota Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, NYT Wheels Blog, FOX Sports]

This is spoiler-free until after the jump.

NASCAR's coming out party for the series new racing car, the unfortunately-named "Car of Tomorrow" (what is this, a car show in 1957?) is officially over. That means that NASCAR history has been made by one of the new machines, which are identifiable by their new rear wings and front splitters. Those visual cues are part of a whole host of changes that are said to make the COT the safest stock car ever.

So, who won? Follow the jump to find out.

[Source: NASCAR]

This Sunday the Chase for the 2006 Nextel Cup will cross the finish line. At the end of the day, as long as No. 48 Jimmie Johnson finishes 12th or better at Homestead-Miami Speedway, he will walk away with his long-awaited championship. According to the guys who crunch the numbers, that's even if No. 17 Matt Kenseth, who trails Johnson by 63 points, wins the race and leads the most laps.

But No. 29 Kevin Harvick, third in the standings going into this weekend's race, will not end the year empty-handed. Harvick's done even better in the Busch Series. He had that title wrapped up in October. He can just coast through Saturday's Busch race (Ford 300 on TNT at 7 p.m. ET). No. 11 Denny Hamlin, fourth in Nextel Cup standings, looks good to take home rookie-of-the-year trophy.
Sorry No. 8 fans, at 115 points behind Johnson, Earnhardt Jr. is a long shot. There's always next year, Dale. Rounding out Nextel Cup's top 10 are No. 24 Jeff Gordon, No. 31 Jeff Burton, No. 6 Mark Martin, No. 9 Kasey Kahne and No. 5 Kyle Busch.

Watch the Ford 400/Nextel Cup Series Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on NBC.

For the Craftsman Truck Series championship, Johnny Benson trails Todd Bodine by 112 points before Friday's Ford 200 in Miami. Watch that race on Speed Channel at 7:30 p.m. ET

Check the NASCAR TV schedule for official airing times.

Kyle Busch, apparently gunning for the Ron Artest Sportsman Award and determined to displace Robby Gordon as one of America's favorite "love to hate" stars in stock-car racing, had his wallet dinged to the tune of $50,000 for throwing a safety device onto the racetrack during Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 event at Lowe's Motor Speedway. The intended victim of the lob was Casey Mears, in what appears to be a continuation of the lovefest between the two drivers (earlier in the season, Busch tapped Mears during a red flag).

In addition to the financial penalty - tied for the second-largest ever levied by NASCAR - Mears was hit with a 25-point penalty and put on "probation" for the rest of the season. Car owner Rick Hendrix was also docked 25 points.

[Source: Fox Sports]