Toyota targeting Cup wins in 2008

The Japanese manufacturer completed a difficult debut season in the Nextel Cup, which was affected by having most of their drivers outside the top-35 in the owner points, meaning that they often struggled to qualify for races. In fact, two of the three Toyota teams were new to the Nextel Cup this year.

Jim Aust, Toyota Motor Sales vice president of motorsports in the US, said their programme did not get as far they were hoping this year, admitting they expected to be further up the field by the middle of the season.

Dave Blaney, the best Toyota driver all season, finished 34th in the standings, getting a third place at Talladega in October as his best race result, and claiming Toyota's first Nextel Cup pole position at Loudon in July.

"I would probably give our first season a letter grade of a B-minus," Aust said. "We're probably about 14 races behind where I thought we would be. We expected to run in the top 15 by mid-season, and we moved in on that at the end of the season.

"Overall, the consistency picked up, but we still have plenty of work to do in order to compete with the Hendrick, Childress and Roush teams."

Aust is optimistic that next year Toyota will win not one but many races and even believes that they might be in a position to fight for the championship, a goal they had set for 2009 but one that looks closer now with Joe Gibbs Racing competing under their banner.

"I think our teams are setting themselves up for success next season," Aust added. "I don't think there is any question that we will get some wins next year and hopefully the first will come at Daytona.

"When we looked at our program we thought that by year three we would be in contention for a championship -- and that was before the addition of Joe Gibbs Racing. That's going to be moved ahead by a year now with the addition of that team."

Besides Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota will also add Hall of Fame Racing to their NASCAR Sprint Cup squad.