Gibbs ready, willing and able to be Toyota flagship

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. -- Call it the Home Makeover (or maybe the Home Depot Makeover), NASCAR edition.

But this time, the interior decorators have it easy. They'll have plenty of money to work with, for one thing. And really, there isn't much that needs to be done in terms of cosmetic upgrades around the offices of Joe Gibbs Racing -- just lots of new Toyota signs to go up in place of the General Motors placards that have been prominently displayed for the last 16 years, since JGR opened its doors.

The real work will come after the signs have been switched out, and the engine-building begins in earnest for 2008 at JGR.

Moving forward

In securing its future, David Caraviello says Toyota is following traces from the past.

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Joe Gibbs Racing representatives and Toyota officials gathered alike at JGR headquarters Wednesday to make the switch official, to explain why it was made, and to assure everyone that star drivers Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin are on board with the jump to a foreign-based manufacturer.

Basically, the decision for the move to Toyota came down to this: JGR concluded it could be the leader in the Toyota field, garnering all the resources that come with that designation; or it could have continued to attempt to make its way with Chevrolet in what was a crowded environment at the top. In the end, Toyota won out.

"When you really look at the landscape of our sport, it's really changed a lot over the last few years," said J.D. Gibbs, president of JGR. "I think you see all the mergers and acquisitions and partnerships, and I think what that says is how difficult it is to run a business in this sport in this day and age. ...

"This was a long, hard, difficult process. It wasn't an easy decision. But we think it's the right decision. We think we have a shared vision with Toyota on what our future needs to look like, and what their future looks like in the sport."

Translation: When it came time to choosing between staying with GM and sharing resources and the spotlight with the likes of Hendrick Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing and Dale Earnhardt Inc., or going over to Toyota and immediately marching to the head of the class, JGR chose the latter.

Beginning next season, JGR will field the Toyota Camrys for its three Nextel Cup teams and two Busch Series teams. While JGR will continue to build engines for its own cars in-house under the watchful supervision of Mark Cronquist, head of its engine-building department, it now will also have at its disposal the technological assistance and know-how of 220 engineers, engine builders and support staff at two Toyota Racing Development (TRD) facilities located in High Point, N.C., not far from the JGR shop, and in Costa Mesa, Calif.

"We think there are certain things we're going to be able to do with Toyota that we're going to have more of a leadership role in, and I think we're kind of excited about that going forward. I think this gives you that leadership role," Gibbs said. "I think within GM, hey, you've got four really strong teams [if JGR had remained with them]. So it's probably a little more difficult to say who has the leadership role there and which direction should you go."

The addition of JGR to a Toyota stable that already had previously included Bill Davis Racing, Team Red Bull and Michael Waltrip Racing is a major coup for the automobile manufacturer. The teams from all the current organizations running Camrys at the Cup level have struggled badly just to make races week to week. (Continued)