Oh, what a feeling!

By DAVID GREEN

Congratulations to Dave Blaney and the Bill Davis Racing team for claiming the pole at New Hampshire. I'm wondering, halfway through this historic season, how most fans feel about Toyota's participation in Cup Series racing; as for myself, I'm getting used to it.

It took some getting used to, I must admit. I won't get into all the debate over whether the Camry (assembled in my home state, by the way) is more of a "domestic" automobile than its NASCAR competitor models, but I'm old-school and Japanese brands are definitely not something I associated with American stock car racing.

That reaction is not something that's limited to supposedly "redneck" NASCAR, either. When Honda made its first appearance in the Indianapolis 500 in 1994, there were more than a few "boos" from the crowd. Funny how when Spaniards cheer for Fernando Alonso or Brits for Lewis Hamilton, they're just being nationalistic, but when Americans voice a preference for American cars and drivers, they're being xenophobic.

Anyway, looks as if the Camry crews are making progress. It doesn't surprise me that it's Blaney and the Bill Davis team who are showing the way. It is mystifying how Jeremy Mayfield has not done any better than he has done in the other Davis Toyota.

The difficulties for new entry Red Bull Racing don't really come as such a shock, either. Not too many upstart teams have come in and kicked butt in this series -- not only recently, but historically, except for Carl Kiekhaefer in 1955-56. No team has ever dominated NASCAR the way those Mercury Outboard-sponsored Chrysler 300s did for two seasons, but that's another story for another day.

Obviously, the biggest surprise for Toyota has been the struggle of Michael Waltrip's team. For one thing, it's not a new team in the sense that Red Bull is. It had its basis in the long-standing Michael Waltrip Racing Busch Series endeavor and it had last year to get ready for the move to Cup in Waltrip's partnership with Davis.

Also, the inconsistency among the three MWR cars represents a huge puzzle.

Ostensibly, the Davis and Waltrip efforts were considered the primary standard bearers for TRD in NASCAR, no disrespect intended toward Red Bull and drivers Brian Vickers and A.J. Allmendinger. BDR has delivered, and Blaney is rewarding those who pipped him as the Toyota driver most likely to succeed in 2007. Victory is within reach for these guys, I believe.