Toyota off to rough start at Daytona qualifying

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Oh, what a failing.

Toyota’s first for-real laps in the Nextel Cup series didn’t amount to much on Sunday, as NASCAR officials impounded Michael Waltrip’s car after finding a questionable substance in his engine and the Japanese automaker failed to place any drivers higher than 14th in pole qualifying for the Daytona 500.

In all, it was an underwhelming day for a manufacturer whose track record of technological know-how and free spending has caused a great deal of consternation among rival teams.

“It was a little bit disappointing from where we’d gotten our hopes up,” said Andy Graves, senior manager for Toyota Racing Development’s Nextel Cup program. “But this is a new challenge for Toyota.”

With limited time for its teams to prepare for Toyota’s first season in Cup, officials knew they might be in for a rough day on Sunday. Toyota teams have struggled with speed since preseason testing in January and weren’t optimistic heading into qualifying.

Waltrip’s inspection problems were the most-high profile problem for Toyota, but nobody performed particularly well.

Another driver for Waltrip’s team, David Reutimann, posted the 14th-fastest speed on Sunday. But five of the eight Toyota drivers were 24th or worse. Dale Jarrett, Toyota’s marquee driver, was a dismal 48th.