When looking at the history of the Daytona 500, there's one predominant theme that echoes throughout – Families.  Beginning with the inaugural Daytona 500 in 1959, successes and disappointments in NASCAR's biggest, richest and most prestigious race have been handed down through generations.

Toyota completed its first full season of NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series (NNCS) competition with the Camry in 2007. “I would probably give our first season a letter grade of a B-minus,” says Jim Aust, vice president of motorsports, Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. “We’re probably about 14 races behind where I thought we would be. We expected to run in the top-15 by mid-season, and we moved in on that at the end of the season."

After a season of achievements and memorable competition, the payoff for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series drivers came Friday in the form of the presentation of the final point fund awards.  NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet) will collect a point fund award of $7,317,499, bringing his 2007 total winnings to $15,313,920.

Jimmie Johnson successfully defended his NASCAR Nextel Cup Series title on Sunday, finishing seventh behind race winner Matt Kenseth in the season-ending Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway to lock up his second consecutive title over teammate and car co-owner Jeff Gordon.

Matt Kenseth took the checkered flag but Jimmie Johnson took his 2nd straight Nextel Cup title Sunday in Homestead. Kenseth drove to his 16th career win in Sunday's NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series season-ending Ford 400, while Johnson captured his second consecutive championship with a seventh-place finish. Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards rounded out the top five at the 1.5-mile superspeedway.

Reigning Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, who holds an 86-point lead over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon heading into the season-ending Ford 400, got off to a great start Friday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, winning the pole position while Gordon could do no better than 11th.

Defending champion Jimmie Johnson scored his fourth straight Nextel Cup victory and took a sizable lead in the Chase for the Nextel Cup Sunday in the Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. Johnson passed Martin Truex Jr. for the lead with 24 laps left and held off Greg Biffle to win for the 10th time this year. He became the first driver to win four straight Cup races since Jeff Gordon did it on his way to a 13-win season in 1998.

While Carl Edwards drove to his first Bud Pole of 2007 at Phoenix International Raceway in preparation for the Checker Auto Parts 500 presented by Pennzoil, he also joined in on the discussion about the impressive start to the weekend by Open Wheel stars Jacque Villeneuve, Patrick Carpentier and Sam Hornish Jr.  Edwards piloted his Office Depot / Roush – Fenway Ford Fusion COT machine around the unique 1 mile Raceway with a lap of 27.114s.

 Martin Truex Jr. captured his first career Bud Pole on Friday in qualifying for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.  Truex, Jr. turned a lap of 193.105 mph in his DEI Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet to beat point leader Jeff Gordon's 192.424 mph lap. Former Champ Car & F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya, Kevin Harvick & former Champ Car driver A.J. Allmendinger rounded out the top five.

Jimmie Johnson's crew gave him track position by only giving him two tires on the final caution flag with less than 10 laps to go and Johnson survived two restarts to win Sunday's Pep Boys 500 NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Atlanta.  Carl Edwards was 2nd followed by Reed Sorenson, Matt Kenseth and Jeff Burton.

Greg Biffle won his first pole in more than a year, nipping Kurt Busch for the top spot in Nextel Cup qualifying Friday night at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Biffle turned a fast lap of 192.453 mph, while Busch had a 192.427 on the fast 1.5-mile oval. The time difference between the top two laps was 0.004 seconds.  IRL star Sam Hornish Jr. kept his perfect record going and has come up short in six tries to make his Cup debut this year.

It seems the only thing standing in the way of Jeff Gordon and the 2007 Nextel Cup Series title is his own teammate – Jimmie Johnson.  Johnson passed Gordon with 44 laps to go and then held off Ryan Newman in a green-white checkered finish to win Sunday’s Subway 500 at Martinsville Raceway.

Jeff Gordon finally shook off his bad luck at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and moved one step closer to his fifth series title with his second straight victory in a wild finish in Saturday night’s Bank of America 500. Despite a sputtering race car, Gordon held on for the green-white-checkered finish over fellow Chase for the Nextel Cup contender Clint Bowyer.

Ryan Newman picked up his second straight Lowe’s Motor Speedway pole on Thursday night, besting the field to grab the top starting spot for Saturday night’s Bank of America 500. Newman’s lap of 189.394 mph was enough to knock Jimmie Johnson from the pole, giving Newman his 42nd career Bud Pole Award and his fifth of the season. Bobby Labonte was third, followed by Jeff Gordon and Kasey Kahne.

Jeff Gordon ran at the back of the field all day at Talladega to avoid all the big wrecks and then burst to the front on the final lap using an outside line with Tony Stewart in tow. At the line it was Gordon followed by his Hendrick Chevrolet teammate Jimmie Johnson and Dave Blaney.  Gordon won both Talladega races this year.

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) announced today that Nationwide Insurance will become title sponsor of the NASCAR Nationwide Series, replacing Anheuser-Busch’s Busch brand at the start of the 2008 season. Nationwide Insurance will also become the official auto, home and life insurance provider of NASCAR.  The seven-year agreement gives Nationwide Insurance the exclusive rights to tie its brand to the most popular form of motorsports in the U.S.

Greg Biffle survived two rain delays, several accidents and darkness to finally win Sunday's controversial NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series LifeLock 400 at Kansas Speedway. Clint Bowyer finished second followed by Jimmie Johnson, Casey Mears and Jeff Gordon completed the top five finishers.

Jimmie Johnson turned a lap of 175.063 mph in his Lowe's Chevrolet to earn the top spot for Sunday's third race in the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup at Kansas Motor Speedway. It was Johnson's third Bud Pole of the season and second straight after earning the top spot last week in Dover. The top five was rounded out by Matt Kenseth, Scott Riggs, Jeff Gordon and Denny Hamlin.

Clint Bowyer was the only driver in The Chase for the NEXTEL Cup without a win until Sunday when he picked up his first career series victory in the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway. Jeff Gordon finished second followed by Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex, Jr. rounded out the top five.

Richard Childress Racing driver Clint Bowyer turned a lap of 130.412 mph in his Jack Daniels Chevrolet to earn the sophomore's second career Bud Pole for the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway.  "It was a good lap," Bowyer said. "We were fast all day, and I'm really excited about our car."  Martin Truex, Jr., Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman rounded out the top five.

Jimmie Johnson ran away from the field to post his series leading sixth NASCAR Nextel Cup Series win and secure the top spot in the Chase for the Nextel Cup with a victory in Saturday night’s Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond Int’l Raceway.

On a night where track temperature hit 147 degrees and ambient temperature reached 109 degrees on the call to ‘start your engines,’ Jimmie Johnson and the Hendrick team laid claim as the team to beat with victory in the Sharp Aquos 500. Johnson’s fifth win of the season guarantees a share of the lead with teammate Jeff Gordon when the points are reset for Chase to the Nextel Cup following next week’s race in Richmond.

Three quarters of the way through Saturday night's Sharpie 500 NASCAR Nextel Cup race at newly repaved Bristol Motor Speedway, Carl Edwards found a place he liked -- the lead -- and decided to stay there.  Edwards took the point for good on Lap 371, beating Kasey Kahne out of the pits under a caution for David Ragan's spin in Turn 4. That's the way the top two cars ran the rest of the way.

Kasey Kahne topped Friday's Bud Pole qualifying session and grabbed his 14th career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series pole in earning the top spot for the Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway that will run Saturday night. Kahne's lap of 16.016-seconds beat fellow Dodge driver Juan Pablo Montoya who qualified outside the front row with a lap of 16.064-seconds.

After being postponed due to rain for two straight days, NASCAR finally ran its Nextel Cup race in Michigan today.  Kurt Busch survived a 3-lap green-white-checkers shootout to finish his domination of the 3M Performance 400 at Michigan Speedway. Martin Truex Jr. finished second, followed by Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin and Dave Blaney.

Jeff Gordon was well on his way to winning today's Nextel Cup race at Watkins Glen but with two laps to go he locked the right front wheel in Turn 1 and spun handing the lead and the win to Tony Stewart. Stewart's Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin was second after Carl Edwards went off on the last lap. Jimmie Johnson was third.

Kurt Busch and his Penske Jasper powered Dodge was the class of the field today at the Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono. Busch started on the outside pole and never looked back, leading 175 laps on the way to his first victory of the year. Dale Earnhardt Jr, Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon and Jimmy Johnson rounded out the top-five. Busch’s win ended a 52-race winless streak that dated back to March 2006. It was his 16th career Nextel Cup victory and his second at Pocono.

In a crash fest on another hazy, lazy Indiana summer day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Tony Stewart won the Allstate 400. During the live post race TV interview, Tony Stewart said that, “This is for everyone of those fans in the stands who pull for me and take the bullshit every week for it." Fines and controversy are sure to follow, but the fans roared their approval.

The rumor of an impending merger between the Champ Car World Series (CCWS) Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing team, and NASCAR's Robert Yates Racing team did indeed come to pass. Even stranger still is the sight of Hulman family talent and money put into NASCAR and CCWS teams!  Some might even wonder if this is the first step in losing Newman/Haas/Lanigan, or whether it means that CCWS is in serious trouble.

Key individuals that are part of the DEI and Ginn Racing merger announced yesterday were part of a media conference today to answer questions regarding the merger.  Those present included Max Siegel, Bobby Ginn, John Story, Jay Frye, Mark Martin, and Paul Menard.

In an effort to bolster two struggling race franchises, Dale Earnhardt, Inc. and Ginn Racing have announced they have merged their teams, effective immediately, creating a new powerhouse four-car Nextel Cup operation that will debut this weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The new merged organization will race under the DEI banner and will combine DEI’s three teams – driven by Martin Truex, Jr., Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Paul Menard – with Ginn’s no. 01 Army Chevrolet, driven by Mark Martin and Aric Almirola.

29 year old driver Casey Mears of the team number 25 National Guard/GMAC Chevrolet drove the car owned by Mary Hendrick to the Bud Pole for the USG Sheetrock 400 with a lap of 29.580 seconds, 182.556 mph. Driver Jimmie Johnson holds the qualifying track record set in July of 2005 with a time of 28.701 and a speed of 188.147 mph.

With the exception of rival Nextel Cup manufacturers, few have been satisfied with Toyota’s pace of progress in its inaugural season at NASCAR’s top competitive level.  But Toyota’s substantial success in NASCAR’s other top divisions provides a sharp contrast in results.

It was a muggy early Summer Friday afternoon in Daytona Beach, Florida. An hour earlier, Boris Said had wheeled his Sobe/No Fear Energy Fusion Ford around the larger than life track that Bill France had built way back in 1959 at a lap of 186.143. Now, he just watched on as the other drivers tried to find their way into the 2006 Pepsi 400. But when all was said and done, it was Boris Said at the very top, the Bud Pole winner for the next evening’s Pepsi 400.

Denny Hamlin used tire strategy to help with track position and outraced Jeff Gordon to the line to win Sunday's NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Lenox Industrial Tools 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway.  It was Hamlin's first win of the season and third career NEXTEL Cup victory.