Dave Blaney and Toyota
Dave Blaney gave Toyota a second-place finish in the NASCAR Busch Series race at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday.
Coupled with Jack Sprague's win with a Toyota in the Craftsman Truck Series race on Friday night, Toyota is putting together an impressive weekend on the race track.
Off the race track, Michael Waltrip and his new Toyota team have created quite a stir for getting caught with a elements of jet fuel in his engine and losing his car, crew chief, $100,000 and 100 driver and owner points.
Blaney will be in today's Daytona 500, the only driver from Bill Davis Racing to make the race. All three of Waltrip's drivers are in the race, making four Toyotas in the Daytona 500.
But Blaney said there is little he can take from his Busch Series finish to the Cup race.
"This is the first time I've run these Busch cars here with this spoiler package on them, and man, it was fun, but it's nothing like the Cup cars," said Blaney, who is driving for Braun Racing in the Busch Series. "I don't think anything will transfer. But I've been really happy with the CAT car all week, too. It was really fast on Thursday, and broke the transmission right off the bat, 12, 15 laps into it. We've been happy with that car, too. We'll just try to keep it straight and keep it going all day tomorrow and see what we can do."
Blaney's Busch Series Braun Racing teammates, Jason Leffler and John Andretti, had their share of good fortune in the Busch Series race as well. Leffler qualified on the front row, next to pole sitter Aric Almirola, and Andretti started fifth. However, Leffler and Andretti ran into trouble and crashed out of the race.
All in all, it was a good showing for Toyota, Blaney said.
"All of them were running good," Blaney said. "The other two got taken out. But it's big. I mean, the cars are really good. The bodies are good, the engines are excellent. You know, I expect a lot from this team this year. They do a good job."