Bill Elliott was the closest driver to miss the Bank of America 500, .018 seconds off the pace. Credit: Autostock

Elliott's qual run a sign of things to come for TRD

CONCORD, N.C. -- Bill Elliott. DNQ.

It's a line that may have been overlooked in the agate of most sports pages after qualifying for Saturday night's Nextel Cup race at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

It wasn't a line that was overlooked by Lee White, Toyota's senior vice president of racing development.

	Bill Elliott still has the look of a racer. Credit: Autostock
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While Elliott was in a Dodge Charger and not the Toyota Camry that Team Red Bull will help usher into NASCAR next season, it was a sign that perhaps the foreign manufacturer may struggle to make its mark in the sport.

"I was at the Red Bull shop this morning and a lot of changes are being made based on their difficulty qualifying for this race,'' White said. "This is not an easy sport.

"Anyone that assumes there is magic just because Toyota or TRD [Toyota Racing Development] are behind these teams is absolutely dead wrong.''

White, as he has said in the past, is prepared for Toyota to take its lumps next season with its seven full-time teams -- two for Bill Davis Racing and three each for Michael Waltrip Racing and Team Red Bull.

"We're very patient,'' he said. "We're prepared for it to take some time. Frankly, I think the Red Bull guys, maybe they had their eyes opened. Maybe it's a blessing that Bill Elliott didn't easily qualify for the race.

"Now everyone at Red Bull understands how big this challenge is and how difficult it's going to be. If he had qualified for that race it might have seemed too easy.''

Toyota has held the headlines since it announced a move to the Cup Series in January. Credit: CIA Stock Photo

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While Toyota enters Cup with a clean slate just as it did the Truck Series, White doesn't expect success to come as quickly.

Toyota got its first Truck win midway through its inaugural season and now is dominating the series with five of the top 10 in points, including the top four.

"It's significantly harder to get established in the Cup Series than the Trucks,'' White said. "Anyone that doesn't believe that is smoking crack.''

He reminded that Team Red Bull, which also plans to enter Atlanta and Texas, had to do things to prepare for qualifying at LMS that other programs take for granted.

"I was at the shop last week and they were practicing unloading the car just to see if they had enough parts to fix it if something happened,'' he said.

"We're serious underdogs.''

Perhaps, but many in the garage don't buy that, accusing Toyota of putting considerably more money into the sport than Ford, Chevrolet or Dodge to create a competitive advantage.

"We've done extensive research because we've heard this,'' White said. "Frankly, we are not of the opinion that the level of expenditure Toyota is bringing to NASCAR is any higher than any of the other manufacturers, and in a couple of cases it's not even close to some.''

"My opinion is it's a convenient way for a lot of the teams to manipulate their own companies and increase their level of funding.''