Toyota will be a player in Craftsman Trucks perhaps as early as 2003. The basic vehicle sure to be either its Tundra or Tacoma pick-ups, but what about the engine? No pushrod V8s are in the Toyota inventory. Will NASCAR relent and permit an overhead cam engine into the game? Highly unlikely. Will Toyota build a fresh new pushrod V8 just for the series, much as Mercedes-Benz craftily did with Ilmor and Penske in 1994 to win the Indianapolis 500? The tactics are unclear but the strategy is simpleto get Toyota into big-time NASCAR with an eye toward Winston Cup.(Speed Channel)(11-19-2002)
