Here's something of a surprise from NASCAR. Bill Elliott, perennially known as "Awesome Bill from Dawsonville (GA)", and the winner of NASCAR's "Most Popular Driver Award" so many times that he pulled his name from that competition and now the trophy is named FOR him --- Will drive a car for TOYOTA later this year! With Elliott, Dale Jarrett and both of the amazingly irritating Waltrips on-board, what's TOYOTA going to do next? Free tickets to Daytona for the winner of NASCAR's "Best BBQ" contest? In other words: TOYOTA could not be getting MORE American!
Bill Elliott will run three races this season for Red Bull Racing as a warmup for its 2007 debut as one of Toyota's initial teams.
Elliott, NASCAR's 1988 champion, will attempt to qualify for races in Concord, N.C., Atlanta and Texas. The car make he'll drive has not been decided, but it won't be a Camry because the model has not been approved for 2006 competition. (Car Nut note: This will probably be our first official competitive look at NASCAR's so-called "Car of Tomorrow", COTO, the spec race car which all teams will eventually be running, phasing-in starting this year. That COTO means every NASCAR racer will be exactly alike, with the only differences being the decals.)
"It's an honor to have a driver of Bill Elliott's caliber help 
Red Bull is one of three teams that has announced plans to field Toyotas next season when the Japanese automaker makes its Nextel Cup debut. (Car Nut note: For those who don't know, RED BULL, makers of the first of the popular 'energy drinks', is so wealthy and so committed to motorsports that they own TWO Formula 1 teams, each of which estimated to cost some $100 million annually. Money is not a problem for these guys).
So far, Michael Waltrip is the only car owner with a driver lineup - he and Dale Jarrett will team to drive two entries. Bill Davis Racing has yet to announce its '07 driver lineup, and Red Bull appears to be having trouble finding a top-name driver.
Matt Kenseth and Kevin Harvick both signed extensions to stay with their current teams, leaving Casey Mears as the next best driver with a contract expiring at the end of the season. But Mears has maintained he wants to remain with Chip Ganassi Racing and is not talking to anyone about driving a Toyota.
Red Bull potentially could talk Elliott into piloting one of its cars next year. He's run a limited schedule the past two seasons, and his 2006 calendar has him driving five races for Waltrip and a select few for MB2 Motorsports. 
Red Bull asked him to drive three this year as it tries to assemble a crew for the 2007 season-opening Daytona 500.
"The organization and its competitive spirit are what attracted me to Team Red Bull," Elliott said. "My job is simple, to put the car in the show, drive it toward the front, and provide valuable input so that Team Red Bull is fully prepared by the Daytona 500."
This story seems to have been corroborated by the latest (6-6-06) from The Associated Press:
Jim Aust, vice president of Toyota Motorsports and president and CEO of Toyota Racing Development, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that two of its current teams in the Craftsman Truck Series are hoping to run some races in 2007 with the new Car of Tomorrow that NASCAR plans to launch at Bristol next spring.
Germain Racing, which fields trucks for Todd Bodine and Ted Musgrave, and Wyler Racing, which has Jack Sprague as its truck driver, have told Aust they are looking for sponsorship to run a limited Car of Tomorrow schedule next season. 
The Car of Tomorrow is a bigger, boxier vehicle with a front-end splitter that NASCAR has designed to eventually replace the slick aerodynamic models that manufacturers spent the past 10 years developing. The Car of Tomorrow is scheduled to run in 15 races next season in a phase-in process that will be complete by 2009.
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