Toyota is rumoured to be entering NASCAR's premier series, the Winston Cup, by 2007 at the latest, potentially jeopardising their long-term involvement in the Indy Racing League.
The Japanese car giant has approached NASCAR about entering stock car racing with a view to racing in North America's largest spectator motor sport. It is believed that Toyota would need to enter NASCAR progressively, working through the lower categories of stock car racing such as the Busch series. However, some insiders suggest this could potentially disrupt Toyota's IRL involvement or even force a complete pull out if Toyota focus their efforts solely on NASCAR.
Toyota along with archrival Honda switched from the CART ChampCar series to the IRL series for 2003. When the announcement was made last year, many observers (MOTORSPORTFORUM included) suggested that the IRL would suffer the consequences over the longer term. The main problems being a CART style pull out of engine manufacturers that leave the series crippled.
The original format of the IRL aimed to created an all-American low cost oval series however the arrival of both Toyota and Honda has raised the stakes and costs of racing in the series, something highlighted recently by the extensive winter-testing by teams affiliated to the Japanese giants. The fear is that the IRL may become over reliant upon Toyota and Honda, who now supply the majority of the IRL grid, and create a damaging vacuum if either or both of the manufacturers leave. With Toyota now seemingly looking to involve themselves in NASCAR by 2007 at the latest, their presence in the IRL may be for 2-3 years at best.
MOTORSPORTFORUM has in the past warned of the potential dangers the IRL faces in embracing major manufacturers. The early indications in reality have not been good. The IRL should be concerned be these rumours especially given that Toyota are weighing up the possibility of specifically entering NASCAR, a championship with enormous attendance and support throughout the US. The IRL cannot match such support at present and will be hard pushed to reach similar levels before any move by Toyota. Therefore in comparative terms, the IRL cannot match NASCAR for exposure of coverage in key US automotive markets.
The Indy Racing League needs to ensure that the presence of Toyota and Honda does not drive costs to extreme levels, as occurred in CART, otherwise the departure of such major manufacturers will cause severe damage to what is still a fledgling racing series.
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