CB's right. It didn't take long in the Craftsman series and it shouldn't be much different in Nextel. Nextel's a bit more competitive, but this time they already have their feet wet, which can't be said about their entrance into trucks.
I think it will be atleast a 2 yr process, they haven't run a 500 mile race with the Lexus motor yet and they have had limited testing at only a few tracks. Just because they are doing good in the truck series doesn't nec. carry over to the Nextel Cup series. Remember no matter how much factory backing you have you still fall undr Nextel Cup rules, which limit alot of things they haven't had to deal with yet, such as the Car of the future, which makes all cars the same except for front and rear facia. I say within the first 2 yrs. they could win a race.
I think Toyota is going to run pretty well in 2007. If I remember correctly, Dodge was on the pole for the Daytona 500 in their first race. Toyota has all the specs for what their engine should be like. You can bet they have their dyno's running overtime to make sure they are ready to go in Daytona. Running restrictor plates engines is very much different than what they will run at California the next week. If they don't do well at Daytona, they will run well in California.
I think they know it's going to be a year/ a year and a half before they cant compete out there. I mean why would they go with Micheal Watltrip who only has 4 wins and Dale Jarrett if they really want to win right away? I think they are just starting up and i in it for the long haul.
They went to Dale Jarrett because he is a past Champion and can get in the race using the Champions provisional is necessary. The same thing Dodge did by hiring Bill Elliott when they first started. Pretty smart move on their part.
Dale Jarrett is a past champion and a three time Daytona winner. He is just the kind of driver they need to find early success. He brings with him a past champions provisional, sponsership and alot of expeience. The fact Jarrett has not won for a while does not mean he has forgotten how to drive, Robert Yates has not been able to give him a car he can win with.
They'll be competitive at one type of track out of the box but will take time to be all around competitive. I'll say they'll have issues at Daytona but will be decent at some of the smaller 1-1.5 mile tracks
