To deal with Toyota, stop complaining, go compete

This is more like what Toyota had in mind when the automobile manufacturer decided to get into running in the Sprint Cup Series.

And it very well may be the beginning of what Jack Roush and so many other Toyota haters feared.

When Kyle Busch wheeled his No. 18 Toyota across the finish line first at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, capturing the Kobalt Tools 500, he made history. It was the first Sprint Cup win for Toyota and the first for any foreign-make manufacturer since the not-so-legendary Al Keller drove a Jaguar to Victory Lane in 1954 on an equally obscure track in Linden, N.J.

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The question left in the aftermath of Busch's win is this: Is it just one win, or is it merely the tip of a very large iceberg that ultimately will sink the other three American manufacturers who have long ruled the sport?

As with many difficult questions, the answer is neither easy nor immediate. It will take more time to tell for certain just how good -- it's way too early to say "dominant" -- Toyota can be in Sprint Cup.

But one thing that is abundantly clear after the 1-2 Toyota finish of Busch and Tony Stewart at Atlanta is that the marriage last offseason of Toyota with Joe Gibbs Racing is one that is not only bearing immediate fruit for both parties, but is likely to continue doing so for many races to come. So in that sense, yes, Toyota has arrived and is obviously a serious threat to Ford, Chevrolet and Dodge.

Asked to point to one specific factor that led to Busch's historic victory, Jim Aust, president and CEO of Toyota Racing Development, was somewhat at a loss. But he did admit that it couldn't have happened without Toyota adding the JGR organization to its stable of Cup teams.

"It's the hard work by everybody that has been involved in the program. It's the guys at TRD [Toyota Racing Development] working on the engine," Aust said. "Then, of course, it always takes more than just the engine to have success. You have to have a great team and certainly Joe Gibbs Racing brings that into the fold. It is a great organization, obviously, with a trio of drivers that anybody would like to have.

"It is a combination of things. I don't know that we point to any one thing. It is hard work, a great team and great drivers."

The big picture
Who would have thought that four races into the 2008 Cup season, Hendrick Motorsports would be without a single victory? Who would have thought that Kyle Busch would get his first win for JGR in a Toyota before Dale Earnhardt Jr. got his first win for Hendrick in a Chevrolet; or better yet, that Busch would put his Toyota in Victory Lane before either Jimmie Johnson or Jeff Gordon, Busch's former Hendrick teammates, would in '08?

But to all those who say that this long-predicted and much-feared emergence of Toyota means the end to all that is sacred and good about NASCAR, it's time to say this: Grow up.

Toyota has been making cars in the United States and employing many thousands of Americans for decades. They have every right to try their hand at and throw whatever amount of money they figure they can afford at the best Sprint Cup teams money can buy.

Roush, carrying the Ford banner, has been their harshest critic. Somehow he manages to maintain the role of martyr even as his own drivers for Roush Fenway Racing have stepped up their own game. Carl Edwards won the two races prior to Atlanta, even if one appears to have been tainted by a rules violation that ultimately cost Edwards' No. 99 team 100 driver and owner points, a fine of $100,000 and the suspension of crew chief Bob Osborne for six weeks.

Totally Toyota

Tony Stewart wasn't happy with Goodyear, but he gave Kyle Busch and Toyota a thumbs up on a historic day at Atlanta.

• Toyota scores first Cup win
• Busch returns 18 to victory

Edwards had the best car in the field again at Atlanta until an engine problem knocked him out when he was leading with 51 laps to go, relegating him to a 42nd-place finish. Matt Kenseth wrestled his balky No. 17 Roush Fenway Ford to an eighth-place finish, and Greg Biffle, driving the No. 16 for Roush Fenway, finished fourth after challenging for the lead late.

Biffle now is second in points behind Kyle Busch -- in a top 12 that includes four Chevy drivers, three Toyota drivers, three from Dodge and two from Ford. The truth is, those numbers don't lie. Toyota is definitely in the mix, but far from dominant. It's a pretty good mix of manufacturers and drivers.

Knock Toyota all you want, but Roush said it best when he admitted recently that Ford could spend and spread around all the money that Toyota has been -- if Ford wanted to or felt it could afford to. Same goes for Chevy and Dodge.

The scary part
It sounds like the American manufacturers can learn something from the way Toyota goes about its business -- in racing and elsewhere, like on the production lines and in the car sales lots.

Instead of fearing Toyota, maybe all the Toyota haters should take a look at one of the things that always has made America great. It's called competition.

Yes, Toyota has raised the bar and Busch's victory in Atlanta may signal the beginning of a new era. But instead of whining about it or complaining that because the car manufacturer's headquarters are based in Japan they have no business in an otherwise all-American sport, how about taking on the challenge and using it as motivation to get better?

That appears to be what Roush Fenway Racing has done -- in between the many complaints leveled by Roush. That is what Dodge appears to have done. After all, didn't Ryan Newman of Penske Racing win the Daytona 500 in a Dodge? That is what owner Rick Hendrick of Hendrick Motorsports is likely to do.

By the way, you haven't heard Hendrick complaining about Toyota, have you? Just like you didn't hear Toyota complaining that Hendrick had some sort of unfair advantage last year when Hendrick's cars were dominating everyone and everything.

Oh, wait a minute. That was Roush who complained about that as well.

Instead, Toyota vowed to get better. The manufacturer's executives saw an opportunity to go out and accelerate their progress by aligning themselves with the Gibbs operation. And the Gibbs' folks, feeling they might never escape the Hendrick shadow if they continued to run Chevys, made a smart move by agreeing to switch. They shouldn't be regarded as scoundrels for seizing the chance to be top dog at Toyota.

You want to know the real scary part? Stewart said after Sunday's race -- when he finally was finished complaining about the "pathetic" Goodyear tires -- that the Gibbs' cars are only now beginning to scratch the surface of potential when it comes to the power of their Toyota engines.

"To have us run 1-2 [Sunday] and to know we've still got more back at the shop, I would say we're in pretty shape in that category," Stewart said.

So here they come, and look out. But instead of preparing to duck and whine, the rest of the teams and other manufacturers need to buckle up and prepare to fight back, if they aren't already. That is the true American Way.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.