CLERMONT, Ind. — Toyota teams are more concerned about racing on road courses and superspeedways than on short tracks with a 15-horsepower cut due to a NASCAR Nationwide Series mandate.
Even with the cutback in horsepower, Kyle Busch won the first race held under the restriction that affects only Toyota engines. The Kroger 200 at O’Reilly Raceway Park Saturday marked Toyota’s 15th victory in 22 races and 14th for Joe Gibbs Racing this season.
“It may have been a little bit of an advantage here — not being able to spin the tires off the corner and having better control of the throttle,” Busch said. “It was easier to put forward bite into the car.”
Jason Leffler, who drives for Braun Racing, posted the first  NASCAR victory in a Toyota Camry at last year’s Kroger 200.
Busch’s teammate, Joey Logano, was the only other Toyota driver among the top 10 on Saturday.
“Sometimes a little bit less is easier to work with,” Leffler said. “It’s tough to hook up the horsepower that you have here (ORP).”
Of the remaining 12 NNS races, the next two are on road courses, three are on short tracks and seven are on superspeedways, including the Aug. 16 race at Michigan Int’l Speedway.
“It’s going to show up at bigger race tracks, then we’ll know how it will affect us,” Leffler said. “We have a lot of different weapons to step up and overcome this deal.”
Michael Waltrip Racing driver David Reutimann and crew chief Jerry Baxter echoed the belief that Toyota teams would feel the brunt of NASCAR’s ruling first at MIS.
NASCAR’s bulletin was released July 22 and called for restrictions to engines with a cylinder bore spacing of 4.470 inches or more. Toyota has the only such engine.
NASCAR took engines from Toyota teams after the Chicagoland Speedway race won by Busch. Some competitors had claimed conservatively that Toyota had a 20-25 horsepower advantage over other engines, while some critics said 40 horsepower.
Toyota Racing Development President Lee White initially expressed “extreme disappointment” in NASCAR’s decision.
“We’ll just roll up our sleeves and go back to work,” said White on the day before the Kroger 200. “We’re not going to whine — we’re going to line up and go race.”
In a TRD statement released July 23, White stressed that NASCAR’s findings and subsequent ruling were not justified.
“In our opinion, there is no technical justification to penalize the Toyota engine utilized in the Nationwide Series,” White said in that statement. “The success of the Toyota Camry this year in the Nationwide Series is the result of hard work and achievement by all our race teams.”
NASCAR seeks to maintain a level playing field, according to NASCAR Vice President Robin Pemberton.
He told the Associated Press that other manufacturers under similar circumstances could face the same horsepower guidelines and pointed out that no other manufacturer in the Nationwide or Craftsman Truck series has engines newer than Toyota.
Pemberton said that NASCAR is not punishing Toyota and that “we have to try to maintain a competitive balance.”