Auto Club Speedway may be Toyota’s home track, but Sunday could be a struggle for the manufacturer.
Based in Torrance, Calif. is Toyota's North American headquarters. In Costa Mesa, Calif., is Toyota Racing Development, the central point of its United States motor sports operation.
Each locale is less than a two-hour drive from Auto Club Speedway, the site of Sunday's Sprint Cup race and NASCAR's only Southern California stop. By proximity this weekend turns into a home game for Toyota, which always brings a large contingent of supporters to the track.
That ups the pressure to perform on Joe Gibbs Racing and Michael Waltrip Racing, Toyota's two flagship teams. And in consecutive years they've responded well, with JGR driver Kyle Busch winning the past two races.
Busch, however, isn't available to stage a title defense, laid up with injuries sustained in a crash last month at Daytona International Speedway. But even if Busch was present, the odds would still be long for another Toyota celebration Sunday.
Just as they did for the majority of 2014, where JGR won just twice and MWR shutout, the organizations are again lagging. Overall, Toyota drivers are 0-for-4. More telling, they've led a mere 36 of a possible 1,107 laps this season.
Compare that to Ford, which took the Daytona 500. Or Chevrolet-backed drivers, who've won three of four races in 2015 and looked poised to do so Sunday, sweeping the front row in ACS qualifying in addition to pacing every practice round.
"We try to identify the areas that we're getting beat and right now it's a little bit of everything in my opinion," said JGR's Denny Hamlin.
As opposed to 2014 where a lack of engine strength was the biggest culprit to better performance, the 2015 issues are an amalgamation of factors.
The gains Toyota made with its motors toward the end of last season are negated by a different rules package, which included reducing horsepower. A further hindrance is a redesigned nose, which combined with NASCAR shortening rear spoilers by 24 percent, has dramatically altered the Camrys handling and aerodynamic characteristics.
Toyota's 2015 problems were most pronounced a week ago at Phoenix International Raceway. Of JGR's four cars, the best finish was Carl Edwards' 13th. Teammates Matt Kenseth, David Ragan (subbing for Busch) and Hamlin finished 16th, 21st and 23rd, respectively. Things were no better in the MWR camp with Clint Bowyer 24th and Brian Vickers 41st.
At Phoenix an all too common occurrence saw Toyota drivers lamenting throughout the race the current state of affairs.
"I can't get in the corners and this piece of sh** will not get up off (the corner)," Bowyer screamed at one point to his team.
Maybe because Phoenix represented the nadir, or perhaps because ACS and its hominess invites comfort in a time of despair, there have been encouraging signs throughout the weekend. Though Chevrolet was superior in practice and qualifying, the Toyota cars weren't far off. Kenseth, Ragan, Hamlin and Bowyer will all start 10th or better.
"It's a good step in the right direction for us as bad as it's been here lately," Bowyer said. "Good breath of fresh air and it's a good racetrack for me."
Said Kenseth: "Thankfully, this is a lot different than Phoenix so I'm hoping for a much better result. It was a struggle for all of us at JGR last week for sure."
Adding to the collective hope is the current position isn't all that different from where Toyota was last year at this time heading into ACS. Yet in spite of the deficiencies, Busch, Hamlin and Kenseth all qualified for the Chase for the Sprint Cup rather easily (Edwards wasn't with JGR) and Hamlin nearly won the championship.
And it's not as if the JGR cars have been a complete lost cause in 2015. Kenseth is ninth in points; Hamlin, ranked 13th, has a pair of top-five finishes and was in contention for the victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway before crashing out.
"We're way closer than what we were with our 11 team at this time last year," Hamlin said. "Pretty optimistic about what's to come in the months and hopefully if we can make it in the Chase then we can make another run at (the championship)."
And if extra motivation is needed Sunday beyond just being in Toyota's backyard, Hamlin possesses that in spades.
Two years ago fighting for the lead on the final lap, Hamlin wrecked off Turn 4. In lieu of a victory, he was hospitalized with broken back and missed the subsequent four races. An injury that essentially derailed what was a very promising season.
Last year Hamlin came into ACS seeking retribution, armed with a car many thought was the class of the field. Instead, he again found himself in the emergency room. A small piece of metal had become lodged in his eye and Hamlin, experiencing symptoms akin to a bad sinus infection, wasn't medically cleared on race day.
If any one driver is owed by any one track, it's Hamlin at ACS. A fact he knows all too well.
"The last race laps I ran around there was when I got crashed on the last lap racing for a win," Hamlin said. "Ultimately, my motivation is to go there and perform at a really high level. It's been circled for like a year or two now to run well there. I just didn't get a chance last year and hopefully I will this year."
Source SBNation.com - All Posts http://ift.tt/1OmjWWS
No comments:
Post a Comment