Toyota continue to impress in testing

Dave Blaney set the fastest lap in the single-car runs on Monday afternoon, improving Jimmie Johnson's benchmark from last week by more than one and a half tenths of a second, driving his No. 22 Bill Davis Racing Toyota.

Blaney praised the progress made by Toyota as they start their second year in NASCAR's top division, although he admitted that he doesn't necessarily expect their restrictor-plate form to translate to other types of tracks.

"It's really just the evolution of things - the engines, the cars and everybody learning," Blaney said about Toyota's progress. "The restrictor plate package that we have here is really good on the Toyota side.

"But when we go to California and Las Vegas I'm not sure that everyone should expect to see the same thing with all the Toyotas on the top of the board. I think we'll be better as a whole than we were last year and certainly the (Joe) Gibbs (Racing) team will be good no matter what, but I think all the Toyota teams are going to be elevated."

Only Dale Earnhardt Jr in his Hendrick Chevrolet Impala SS and rookie Dario Franchitti in his Ganassi Dodge Charger were able to prevent a full sweep of the top ten speeds by Toyota on Monday at Daytona.

Brian Vickers backed up a promising showing by his teammate AJ Allmendinger last week, setting the third fastest speed of the day for Team Red Bull only 36 thousandths off of Blaney's lap.

"I think Toyota has a lot more experience, especially with this new engine that they threw on them last year," Vickers said. "We as a team have had the time and the people to build the type of quality cars that we need."

Toyota's restrictor-plate program showed promising results last October when the Japanese manufacturer swept the front row at Talladega and then took a third place in the race with Dave Blaney.

Dyno tests made by NASCAR following that race already showed that the Camrys were on a par and even ahead in terms of horsepower relative to the Chevrolets that won most of the restrictor-plate events last season.

"After the Talladega race last fall, the chassis dyno results following that event showed that we did our homework," said Lee White, Senior Vice President and General Manager of TRD.

"We had very good rear-wheel horsepower after Talladega. If you look at the results here, everyone else has put the same focus on it and caught up, or at least got closer - or equal, in the case of the Hendrick group.

"This is not the same as last year. It's completely different. We have a year under our belts. The teams we're associated with have a year under their belts and we have added the Joe Gibbs operation, which has completely changed our outlook as a company."

Kyle Busch currently holds the fastest overall lap in testing at Daytona when he ran a lap close to the 189 mph mark last Wednesday in a drafting session at the 2.5-mile oval, at the wheel of his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.