NASCAR SAYS "NO!" to GEM switching to Toyota...???

George Gillett, who bought into Ray Evernham's Dodge-anchor operation last year [now GEM], has made strong overtures to switch to Toyota. But NASCAR officials have apparently nixed any such move, and that could leave the Bill Davis Toyota team in limbo. Davis has talked for more than a year now about looking for a business partner. The Gillett-Evernham operation has been Dodge's chief engineering arm in NASCAR, but Penske may now get that nod, and become the engine supplier to teams like the Pettys. Penske already leases Dodge engines to Robby Gordon. Sources say that Penske, who runs one of the country's largest Toyota dealerships, in Los Angeles, has made overtures about Toyota, and may push for the launch of a satellite Toyota operation next year in order to be prepared for a possible changeover to Toyota in 2010.

Nascar may have said No, but it appears the GM-Chrysler buyout is getting close to being done. If this takes place...what will happen with Dodge...and the Dodge teams?

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Permalink Reply by Green4x4 on October 27, 2008 at 7:15pm
i think that if any team wants to be able to switch manufactuer they should be able to. toyota has worked hard and is very dedicated to NASCAR, its no wonder teams want to switch, exspecialy dodge. its only a mater of time before chrysler gets bought, if its by GM that may lead to teams switching to chevy, but it dodge gets bought by another manufactuer i think they would want to stay in NASCAR. win on sunday sell on monday its a great maketing tool.
Permalink Reply by Keith on October 27, 2008 at 9:01pm
Mulhern is the only one reporting this story as of this afternoon.
Handle with care.

Dave Moody tried to get a word from NASCAR but officials were traveling.

I tend to lean more towards JAYSKI's weekend report that TOYOTA was the hold up, not wanting to add more teams at the moment.

At the moment, nobody at DODGE can guarantee anything regarding their future. The contract is worthless IMO.
Permalink Reply by TOG on October 27, 2008 at 9:16pm
sounds good, Keith.
Permalink Reply by GrayAntiMatter on October 28, 2008 at 10:28pm
Mulhern is the only one reporting this story as of this afternoon.

Exactly, consider the source...
Permalink Reply by JoCo on October 27, 2008 at 9:27pm
I just hate the fact that NASCAR, as an organization, can decide from whom teams get their engines from like that...it's bad enough that they limit sponsorship opportunities with the "Camping World Truck Series", "Nationwide Series", and "Sprint Cup Series" as well as "Sunoco: The Official Fuel of NASCAR" and any other thing like that...they've caused Verizon, Geico, Shell, Texaco, ExxonMobil, AT&T, Allstate, and many more companies to either alter or drop completely their sponsorships of the teams, the backbone of NASCAR.

But for them to sit there and dictate who can choose which manufacturer to work with is way past crossing the line.
Permalink Reply by Lance on October 28, 2008 at 7:31pm
You wouldn't hate it if 43 spec Toyota Camry's were racing every week. Trust me, I don't like the idea of it any better than you do but I think they have to protect Chevy, Ford, and Dodge for the benefit of the series. Nascar's stance has ALWAYS been that they allow what benefits the sport as a whole, not any one particular manufacturer, team, or driver. If you don't like it. their motto is go find another place to race. You can complain all you want about Nascar but I'd rather they do that than end up with a full blown Honda spec series like there is in the IRL.
Permalink Reply by Keith on October 28, 2008 at 8:11pm
Dave Moody says NASCAR's response is that the story is not as written. When asked to explain, NASCAR's response (typical) was "Not at this time".

My take... NASCAR does not want to see TOYOTA take over half the teams should DODGE go belly up. I don't think they can block GEM's deal legally and they know it, but are wanting time to see what all the alternatives could be. JMO.
Permalink Reply by Mike Kenyon on October 28, 2008 at 10:20pm
Did ya'all watch the IRL race the other night? It wasn"t a parade or boring.Honda supplies a Great product to all
the teams. By the way we've sold 150+ new Honda's (automobiles)already this month and our customers have no idea who won in Australia.
Permalink Reply by MTwomn on October 28, 2008 at 10:36pm
Spoken like a true Honda man. Honda has good products, they just are missing that zoom zoom factor. And that is spoken as a Mazda woman.

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