NASCAR: Toyota to make debut in Nextel Cup

As Kasey Kahne navigated through traffic Friday at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., he couldn’t quite recognize all the competition.

“Who’s that in the 44?” Kahne radioed about the car three spots in front of him.

Kasey, meet Dale Jarrett, the 1999 Cup champion and new Toyota driver.

After a year of buildup, the Japanese automaker will make its highly anticipated debut tonight in the Budweiser Shootout. There are two Camrys in the 21-car exhibition event, and Jarrett will lead them to the green flag after earning the pole in a blind draw.

“I’m excited to see what we have,” said Jarrett, who won’t be behind the wheel of the No. 88 Ford for the first time in 10 years.

“I’ll be glad to finally get into those race conditions to see where we stack up and see how we can compete. How much work do we have to do? Or how little do we have to do?”

That’s the pressing question in the Nextel Cup garage, where everyone is expected to tune in to check out the competition. Because the Shootout is an all-star event for 2006 pole winners and past event winners, Jarrett and Brian Vickers are the only two drivers from Toyota’s seven-car fleet participating.

“It’s the first entry of a non-American manufacturer, so it’s going to be an historical day,” Dodge car owner Ray Evernham said. “And it’s one more thing to pay attention to. They are the new competition and everyone will want to see what they’ve got.”

Based on Friday’s two practice sessions, it’s not totally clear how the Camrys will run. Jarrett was in the middle of the pack on the speed chart, but Vickers was all the way at the bottom – close to 5 mph off of Denny Hamlin’s fast lap of 189.745 mph.

Andy Graves, director of Toyota’s Cup program, has been in this position before: He helped start Chip Ganassi’s NASCAR program in 2001, the same year Dodge re-entered the Cup series. Bill Elliott ran a Dodge in the Shootout, then won the pole for 500, and Sterling Marlin drove his Dodge to a victory in a later qualifying event.

Henry group buys Roush stake

A group of investors led by Boston Red Sox owner John Henry has completed a deal to buy a 50 percent stake in the Roush Racing NASCAR team, a person who is familiar with the negotiations said.

Although team owner Jack Roush is selling half of the team to the Fenway Sports Group, Roush will continue to run the team’s competitive operations, according to the person, who requested anonymity because the deal hasn’t been announced.