Consider it a shot over the bow, that new Toyota engine design that Joe Gibbs' drivers -- Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart -- put on the track at Lowe's Motor Speedway last weekend. Yes, it broke midway through the All-Star race, but even on seven cylinders, Busch was outrunning most others in the field. With a little bit of polish in the new valve-train still to be done, Toyota appears ready to turn things up another notch, and that should worry the competition even more. Busch has dominated all three of NASCAR's touring series this spring, and he leads the Sprint Cup standings. If he wanted to, he could easily challenge for all three series championships. No wonder Lee White, Toyota's NASCAR field boss, is all smiles. "No, no one's gloating," White said. But last year was such a flat-out disaster for Toyota, NASCAR's newest manufacturer, that this spring's results might provide reason to gloat.
-- Winston-Salem Journal
New engine may give Toyota teams another boost