Toyota Pledges Allegiance to NASCAR

FORT WORTH, Texas — Toyota's decision to quit Formula 1 will not affect the Japanese automaker's participation in NASCAR stock car racing.

Lee White, president of Toyota Racing Development (TRD), affirmed the company's commitment during the Dickies 500 race weekend.

"We were surprised, just like everyone else," about the F1 announcement, White said. But he added, "We are no more worried today than we have been for a year" about the stability of Toyota's commitment to NASCAR.

Toyota, which broke in through a now-defunct NASCAR series for subcompacts and then moved up to the Camping World Truck Series, became the first foreign manufacturer to participate in the Sprint Cup Series in 2007.

Unlike in F1, where a nine-year, no-expenses-spared effort yielded not a single victory, Toyota has enjoyed a measure of success in NASCAR, winning plenty of races in all three national touring series — Cup, Nationwide (formerly Busch) and Truck.

It has never scored a driver or manufacturer championship at the Cup level but has become the dominant brand in the Truck series and Kyle Busch, who drives for Joe Gibbs Racing, has a big lead in driver standings for the Nationwide series with two races to go.

Inside Line says: No question, Toyota's NASCAR effort is dirt cheap compared to the hundreds of millions of dollars it spent in F1. — David Green, Correspondent