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pache100
07-07-2006, 11:55 AM
This will be an interesting week in Chicagoland. Also expected: an announcement by UPS that they will be following Dale Jarrett to Michael Waltrip Racing for the 2007 season.


Toyota team in the making set for tentative NASCAR debut in ChicagoBy SARAH ROTHSCHILD
THe Miami Herald
Toyota doesn’t enter the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series until next season, but Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway, one of the Japanese automaker’s teams will make its debut.

Sort of.

Michael Waltrip Racing, which will field at least two Toyota teams next season, secured a sponsorship with Miami-based Burger King Corp. that allows veteran Bill Elliott to compete in five races this season and gauge the manufacturer’s progress.

Former Cup champion Elliott will drive the No. 00 car. His main responsibility is to provide feedback. Toyota’s cars still are being built, so Elliott will drive a Chevrolet.

The Burger King deal is helping Michael Waltrip offset some of the “tremendous” costs of building his teams.

“It’s all about 2007,” Waltrip said last week, lounging in his motor coach at Daytona International Speedway. “We’re going to learn what a Chevy is aerodynamically. We’re also going to learn what setups in the garage today are working. Our guys will be up to speed with what’s going on, and then they can have a couple weeks off and build more stuff and race again.”

Waltrip said he expects to know as soon as this weekend whether he will field a third Camry. He will drive one of the cars and has signed Dale Jarrett for the second car. Waltrip remains confident the team could field a third.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/motorsports/14987263.htm