Toyota team officials say that they hope the “car of tomorrow” being tested today at Bristol Motor Speedway can help the new manufacturer catch up to existing teams.

Andy Graves, senior manager for Toyota Racing Development, thinks that the new model to be raced at 16 Nextel Cup events this year could level the playing field quickly.

“I think it does help,” he said. “You don’t have the big, thick notebooks that you are racing against with the bigger organizations with the current car. But at the same time, we have a lot on our plate and a lot to do. We’re trying to spread our resources to do everything in the first year, and that makes it a little bit harder as well.

“We’re definitely looking forward to the car of tomorrow races, and it’s going to be interesting having the first race here at Bristol.”

Team owner/driver Michael Waltrip agreed. “We’ll see,” he said. “If you put that [new car] out in front of a board of folks that know what goes on in this sport, you would almost have to say yes because there are not as many tricks that you can pull with the body as far as twisting the body and changing the body around. But then I also think there are not as many variables in the suspension setups because you have the splitter that will hit the road if you get too goofy with it.

“I would cautiously say, yes, it will help us or any team to compete, I believe.”