Dyno tests reveal a Toyota advantage

Was anyone naive enough to think Toyota (shown here in Tony Stewart's car) wasn't sandbagging last year and will bury GM and Ford from here on out? If you were, just look at what they have done to the truck series.

If Dale Earnhardt Jr. is going to win the Daytona 500, it looks like he’s got a sizeable horsepower disadvantage to overcome, judging from NASCAR’s post-150s chassis-dyno tests, which showed Toyota’s Tony Stewart had at least a 15 horsepower edge at his rear wheels over Chevy’s Earnhardt in Thursday’s twin races.

And Richard Childress’ Chevy engines were about 30 horsepower off the Toyotas, which is some concern in both the Childress camp and with GM officials.

NASCAR didn’t post any official numbers, but Stewart’s engine – built by Mark Cronquist, head of Joe Gibbs’ motor shop – pulled around 462 to 464 effective horsepower, according to those familiar with the results. That’s about 15 horsepower more than Earnhardt had and about 30 horsepower more than Chevy’s Kevin Harvick.

“We’ve got some work to do," was all Clint Bowyer, Harvick’s teammate at Childress’, would say.

Ford’s Doug Yates, the veteran engine builder and now car owner, had expressed worries about the powerful Toyota engines during January testing. However yesterday Yates was in a better mood: “From Talladega till now, we’ve made great gains, and we’re close. But I didn’t need a chassis dyno to know who has the best engine here.

“I do feel better now than I did at Talladega about our chances. Our horsepower was in the high 450s. But our problem is we’ve got to get our car driving good … and keep the tires on it. And if we can do that, we may get some good results here … and then go on to Fontana. Winston Salem Journal