Toyota spending $200M per year to conquer NASCAR

[Editor's Note: Toyota was spending over $100M per year in CART, now Champ Car, so this estimate of $200M per year, given NASCAR's higher TV ratings and sponsor exposure, is probably right on target.] This weekend at Daytona International Speedway, Japan-based automotive giant Toyota will be trying to cement a place in Americana. It's officially joining NASCAR's Nextel Cup circuit, the nation's No. 1 motor sports series.

In the final, and perhaps most significant, part of its campaign to gain consumer acceptance as being as made-in-America as Ford and General Motors, Toyota is plowing full force into an arena once impenetrable by a foreign manufacturer.

Two Toyota drivers, Dale Jarrett and Brian Vickers, will compete in Saturday's preseason exhibition race, the Budweiser Shootout. Eight Toyota drivers are entered in Sunday's Daytona 500 pole qualifying, which decides the top two starting positions for NASCAR's fabled season-opening event Feb. 18.

The world's No. 2 automaker, poised to surpass GM this year, has stamped its logo on many pastimes that intersect with middle-class America — especially pickup owners, the overwhelming majority of whom still buy from Detroit. More at USA Today