Nascar
Name: Mike Shustek
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A non-US automaker captured a victory in US top-level stock car racing for the first time since 1954 when Toyota driver Kyle Busch won here Sunday for the Japanese car maker.
Not since Al Keller drove a Jaguar to victory lane 54 years ago at Linden, New Jersey, had a car from a manufacturer outside US borders won a National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) event.
Toyota Racing Development (TRD) struggled in a 2007 debut campaign but added Joe Gibbs Racing, a perennial contender, for this season and finally found the path to victory lane.
"The feeling can't get any better," said TRD president Jim Aust. "This is a fabulous day for Toyota. It is just a fabulous feeling. We are just feeling really great about the whole decision to move into the series."
Aust, who retires in July, said there are more checkered flags to come for Toyota this year in the US series of mostly oval events.
"I said all along from the very beginning that I thought the number was somewhere in the area of eight so I'm going to stick to that," Aust said.
For Carpentier, who missed the first two events of the season and then was involved in a wreck early in the event at Las Vegas, points are like gold. Unlike Franchitti and Hornish, Carpentier did not have the efforts of another to fall back on through the first five races of the season. He has been forced to scratch and claw his way on qualifying day and again on race day.
Now 44th in the point standings, there will be little release in the pressure on qualifying as the 35th driver in the point standings, J.J. Yeley, has outdistanced Carpentier by 197 points exiting Atlanta. A good performance on the half mile at Bristol is going to be critical.
