Here's what still gets to me....anybody remember this?
From Jayski 2007
"New win record for Chevy: With a win by Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe's Impala SS, at Phoenix last weekend, Team Chevy surpassed its season win record of 25 victories set in 1958. Now, with one race left in the season, Chevy is gunning for 27 wins in one season which would give the bow-tie brand the impressive statistic of having won exactly 75 percent of all points-paying races in 2007. The win was also the 13th victory in 16 appearances for the Impala SS race car, which made its debut this season. Equally as noteworthy is the win statistic for the Monte Carlo SS, which has 13 wins in its final season of competition (out of 19 races). The Monte Carlo SS will run its last race in this weekend's Nextel Cup event at Homestead-Miami Speedway.(GM Racing PR)(11-14-2007)"
So in 2007 Chevy won 2/3rds of the cup races. That's fine. And everybody was like "wow, those cars sure are good". Don't remember hearing a lot of complaining on the radio or TV.
But in 2008 Toyota started winning a lot of races and....
"Is it time for NASCAR to put a governor on Toyota power in the Nationwide Series?"
NASCAR.COM - Toyota Nationwide engine remains under scrutiny - Jul 22, 2008
NASCAR cuts Toyota horsepower for Nationwide Series engines - Nationwide Series | NASCAR Racing News - SceneDaily.com
Yes I understand it's cup versus NW but the point being that it sure does seem that when Chevy wins a lot then "well, that's nothing new....them guys are just good". But when Toyota wins a lot..."why, them boys are doing something."
Here's a recent article from Mike Mulhern earlier this year...(yeah, I know, Mulhern? But this article brings up a valid point, I think)
"Where is NASCAR's engine-chassis dyno?
Let's check out all these Sprint Cup motors and see just who's got what under the hood.
Do Rick Hendrick's Chevy engines pull a lot more horsepower than rivals? Is that perhaps why Jeff Gordon doesn't want any tweaks to these 900-horsepower behemoths?
How much horsepower is too much for these machines? For good racing?
It's been a long time since NASCAR did an at-track engine dyno test, to compare the various makes.
At the moment it appears that Hendrick's engines are the class of the sport, and that Toyota and Ford are struggling….and that Dodge's new R6 engine is still somewhat of an unknown.
But NASCAR officials should haul out that chassis-dyno and put the top engines to the test – last week's race at Michigan was the perfect opportunity. The upcoming race at Chicago should be placed on the NASCAR docket.
In fact it's surprising that NASCAR has mothballed the chassis-dyno. Perhaps officials are afraid of what they might learn.
So what to make of Toyota at the moment? What to make of Kyle Busch's slump?
Rick Hendrick's Chevy teams are by far the class of the sport; everyone else is playing for second, even Busch.
No wonder all the speculation that Toyota's Team Red Bull may switch to Chevrolets next season. If Hendrick-power and engineering can work wonders for Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman, why not Jay Frye's Red Bull guys."
I know some will bring up "magnetgate". But were the toyota engines found to be illegal? And besides, how many times have those Hendrick fellas "pushed the envelope"?