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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) - Oh, what a failing.

Toyota's first for-real laps in the Nextel Cup series didn't amount to much on Sunday, as NASCAR officials impounded Michael Waltrip's car after finding a questionable substance in his engine and the Japanese automaker failed to place any drivers higher than 15th in pole qualifying for the Daytona 500.

In all, it was an underwhelming day for a manufacturer whose track record of technological know-how and free spending has caused a great deal of consternation among rival teams.

"It was a little bit disappointing from where we'd gotten our hopes up," said Andy Graves, senior manager for Toyota Racing Development's Nextel Cup program. "But this is a new challenge for Toyota."

With limited time for its teams to prepare for Toyota's first season in Cup, officials knew they might be in for a rough day on Sunday. Toyota teams have struggled with speed since preseason testing in January and weren't optimistic heading into qualifying.

What they didn't figure on was a potential cheating scandal.

During a pre-qualifying inspection Sunday morning, NASCAR officials discovered an undetermined substance in the intake manifold of Waltrip's engine.

Waltrip insisted it was simply oil, but officials are taking a closer look and could announce penalties later in the week.

"Our inspection team was not comfortable that that was just oil," NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter said.

Officials confiscated the engine manifold and sent it to NASCAR's research and development center in Concord, N.C., for further evaluation.

And while it's not yet clear whether Waltrip's team has done anything illegal, NASCAR is holding onto Waltrip's car at the track for an undetermined amount of time to make sure.

Amid widespread speculation among rival teams in the garage area that Waltrip's team could put an illegal fuel additive in its manifold to increase engine combustion, NASCAR competition director Robin Pemberton said he did not know if the substance could enhance performance.

"We don't know that, and we aren't going to speculate on it," Pemberton said.

The team put a new manifold on the car and Waltrip posted the 25th-fastest speed of the day, but NASCAR officials later impounded it.

"We'll go over that car with a fine-toothed comb," Hunter said.

Michael Waltrip Racing general manager Ty Norris said it was "ridiculous" to ask whether the substance might have been put there intentionally by a crew member.

"I think it's probably making great print (news stories), but I don't know that it's going to be as exciting as everybody thinks it's going to be," Norris said.

But if a more serious infraction is found, a rough start to the week could snowball into a major distraction - just like it did for Jimmie Johnson's team last year, after inspectors failed his car and suspended crew chief Chad Knaus for four races. Johnson still went on to win the race.

Norris said NASCAR officials told the team they would know more on Thursday.

"They have not said that it's right or wrong, they just don't know what it is," Norris said. "It's something that they haven't seen, so they want to check it out."

Waltrip's inspection problems were the most-high profile problem for Toyota on Sunday, but nobody performed particularly well.

Another driver for Waltrip's team, David Reutimann, posted the 15th-fastest speed on Sunday. But five of the eight Toyota drivers were 25th or worse.

Dale Jarrett, Toyota's marquee driver, was a dismal 48th on the speed charts. But at least he's assured of a spot in the race because of a rules provision that reserves a starting spot for a past series champion.

"We knew today wasn't going to be pretty as far as speed for us," Jarrett said.

Dave Blaney also is assured of a starting spot because the No. 22 team finished in the top 35 in car owner points last year. But the other six Toyota drivers must try to race their way into the field during qualifying races on Thursday.

Jeremy Mayfield was 16th, Mike Skinner was 18th, Blaney was 39th, A.J. Allmendinger was 40th and Brian Vickers was 45th.

Now even Waltrip, a two-time Daytona 500 winner, must race his way into the field.

"I'm going to race as hard as I can," Waltrip said. "That's all I can do."

Starboy_X wrote: I think 4 of their 6 cars made it into the field. That is a slightly decieving article as cheating has been going on in Nascar for a long while now, its just that they decided to start cracking down this year. So far though Toyota has not been doing well generally but that was to be expected due to lack of experience and not just of the drivers but of the tuning teams actually.

KA24DET70 wrote: u can't blame toyota, really they just ahead of their time, I only blame them for participating in retard racing. Why are we even discussing cowboy racing? Soon them same tings they accuse them of cheating with going to show up on some other rides

"It's the most ingenious thing I have seen in 30 years of motorsport." admitted FIA President Max Mosley after an extraordinary meeting of the FIA's World Council convened following technical reports on Toyota from the Catalunya Rally.
The offending illegally modified turbo restrictors which banished Toyota from the WRC.

The cause of complaint was that Toyota had fitted turbo restrictor’s which were modified in three ways/b]
* The restrictor was not sealed so it was possible to move it without touching the seals.
* It was possible for airto enter the engine without passing through the restrictor.
* The position of the restrictor could be moved so it was further away from the turbine than the50 mm limit permitted.

It was discovered that these irregularities were made possible by a flange which had a special hidden bypass device which was held open against a very strong spring. The hose which connected the restrictor to the turbo had a metal casing inside, and attached to this casing were catches which could secretly force open the by-pass flange to the extent of 5 mm.

Max Mosley explained: "When the system was dismantled, the flange would automatically close itself and remove evidence that extra air could have entered engine. This system not only allowed extra air which did not pass through the restrictor to enter the engine, but also the restrictor itself could illegally be moved further from the turbo.

"The hose was fixed to the restrictor by a jubilee clip. A special tool was then applied to open the device and then the device then gripped in the open position by a second clip. Both of these clips had to be undone for a scrutineer to check the restrictor and in the process of opening those clips the device snapped shut.

"Inside it was beautifully made. The springs inside the hose had been polished and machined so not to impede the air which passed through. To force the springs open without the special tool would require substantial force. It is the most sophisticated and ingenious device either I or the FIA's technical experts have seen for a long-time. It was so well made that there was no gap apparent to suggest there was any means of opening it."

The FIA estimates that 25 per cent more air was allowed into the engine than permitted although admits it's difficult to estimate how much more power that would achieve. An expert put it as high as an extra 50 bhp—a considerable advantage when the cars are supposedly limited to 300 BHP.

TTE did not claim the device was legal but was represented by lawyers who entered a plea in mitigation. Mosley went on to say that the points Toyota and their drivers, Juha Kankkunen, Didier Auriol and Armin Schwarz had gained in 1995 would simply be taken away but others would not move up to fill the gaps.

The team would also be banned from contesting the 1995 Network Q RAC Rally and the 1996 World Rally Championship. He also stated that the FIA would not allow the team to get around the restrictions by entering under another guise and went on to say that there was however, nothing to suggest that the drivers were aware of anything going on.

According to Toyota the device had been devised at a "certain level" and the management knew nothing about it. The FIA dismissed this claim, saying that as a team they were responsible for all their actions.

He went on to say that there were indications that this type of thing was not happening with in other teams and praised those who were concerned with discovering the irregularity. TTE has announced that it is planning to appeal against the ban extending through 1996.

The absence of the team would weaken an already frail championship and leave it to a fight between Subaru, Mitsubishi and Ford with Subaru being the obvious favourites.