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Toyota is staying ... There's been a lot of talk going around in racing circles about Toyota leaving the IRL. There was talk going around that had Toyota entering the NASCAR Cup Series as soon as the 2006 season. It was also speculation that when Toyota went into the Cup Series, they would leave the IRL. Actually, comments made from a Toyota executive at the end of the 2004 IRL season led some media outlets to kind of read between the lines and predict the Toyota pull-out from the IRL.
The latest news concerning the Toyota move to the Cup Series has NASCAR requiring Toyota to spend a season or two in the Busch Series before moving up to Cup. There's a recent report in the IndyCar Series magazine stating that Toyota is vowing to bounce back into serious IRL competition. It was quite a shock this past season to watch the Toyotas fail to compete. Toyota only took two races in 2004. Helio Castroneves won the Texas race in the #3 Penske Racing Toyota and Sam Hornish Jr. took the Homestead-Miami event in the #6 Penske Racing Toyota. Those were the only two wins out of the 16 events that made up the 2004 season. Andretti Green ... will be back in full force in 2005 with their entire four team line up. Dario Franchitti was the only one who was currently unsigned, and he's inked his deal to continue with the team. Team owner Michael Andretti and team co-owner Kim Green are both thinking about switching chassis for the 2005 season. They've been using Dallara, but are intrigued by the competitive aspects of the Panoz G Force. Manning returning ... Darren Manning, driver of the #10 Ganassi Racing Toyota is planning on returning for the 2005 season. He injured his back in a wreck while qualifying for the California event in early October, causing him to miss the last two season's events. Manning has been resigned with Ganassi for 2005 after his promising initial season, and is hoping to be physically ready for January testing. Indy 500 qualifying change ... The Indy Racing League has made some procedural changes to the 2005 Indy 500 qualifying format. The league has reverted back to four days of qualifying instead of the three day time trials of recent years. During the first three days, the 11 fastest unqualified cars from each day will earn their spots in the line-up. The pole position, as usual, will be decided on the first day. The fourth and final day will be "Bump Day" when the slowest of the 33 cars can be bumped from the field. Go To Page: 1 2
The copyright of the article 2005 Season News in Indy Racing League is owned by . Permission to republish 2005 Season News in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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