Can Toyota win over NASCAR Nation?

0 Comments | USA TODAY, February, 2007 | by Nate Ryan

This weekend at Daytona International Speedway, Japan-based automotive giant Toyota will be trying to cement a place in Americana. It's officially joining NASCAR's Nextel Cup circuit, the nation's No. 1 motor sports series.

In the final, and perhaps most significant, part of its campaign to gain consumer acceptance as being as made-in-America as Ford and General Motors, Toyota is plowing full force into an arena once impenetrable by a foreign manufacturer.

Two Toyota drivers, Dale Jarrett and Brian Vickers, will compete in Saturday's preseason exhibition race, the Budweiser Shootout. Eight Toyota drivers are entered in Sunday's Daytona 500 pole qualifying, which decides the top two starting positions for NASCAR's fabled season-opening event Feb. 18.

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