Five races into the 2008 Sprint Cup season, the Fanhouse recaps the Top-5 lessons learned in 2008. Check back each day to get revved up for Sunday's Goody's Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

Toyota may have scored its first Sprint Cup win two weeks at Atlanta, but that doesn't mean that the manufacturer is ready to be a dominant force in the sport.

However, one of its teams already is proving that racing in the Car of Tomorrow world isn't necessarily based on the performance of a manufacturer as whole.

Instead of having a distinct advantage from make to make -- i.e. Ford vs. Chevy with spoilers, etc. in the 1990s -- the Sprint Cup world has become one in that it matters what kind of depth and talent your team has behind the wheel, not your downforce or engine numbers.

Joe Gibbs Racing made the jaw-dropping switch to Toyota in the best-case scenario for them. Leaving Chevrolet to run Toyota in the old car would have guaranteed at least a half season of struggling for the team, but the new car changed all of that. Simply, NASCAR nearly builds the race cars for the teams now with the direct set of rules that have about as much leeway as David Ragan Sprint Cup victories.

Yep, that's pretty much zero.

A.J. Allmendinger hasn't made a Sprint Cup series race yet in 2008 and announcement Monday by the team will make that impossible to change in the time being.

Mike Skinner, a Toyota driver from the Craftsman Truck Series, will instead take over temporary duties in the No. 84 Toyota.

From the team's blog, the "Stock Car Ticker":

"We're at a crossroads where we need to make a change that will elevate the No. 84 team to success," said VP and General Manager Jay Frye.

"AJ's our guy and he's a talented driver, but there's a lot being asked of him. In order for him to be successful, we have to get this team pointed in the right direction. We hope we can do that with the help of a veteran driver."

Skinner got a start last weekend at Las Vegas in another Sprint Cup Toyota, Bill Davis Racing's No. 27. Hew qualified the car 5th and wound up 30th, 2 laps down.

Skinner's role in the car will be to help the team make some races to battle for an owner points position inside the Top-35 to help guarantee the Toyota makes race. Additionally, he'll try to help the team evaluate their program from a veteran's prospective.

Allmendinger's teammate Brian Vickers has qualified for each race this season, and after a miserable campaign in 2007, the team simply cannot afford to miss races in a regular fashion.

It's been a rough weekend to be a race car at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

From preparation for Sunday's UAW-Dodge 400 for the Sprint Cup Series to Saturday's qualifying and race for the Nationwide Series, plenty of drivers have found themselves spun out, in the wall, or both.

During Saturday's Nationwide Series Sam's Town 300, as of lap 78 there had been 7 cautions for 32 laps due to multiple wrecks. Steven Wallace, Brian Vickers, Bobby Labonte and a plenty of others had made hard contact with the wall.

Kyle Busch was running second on lap 103 and slammed the turn 3 wall after cutting a tire -- his second crashed car of the day.

Earlier in the day, Busch was trying to earn the pole for the Nationwide Series race in qualifying and spun on his second lap, sending him to the rear of the field for the race.

Check out all of the NASCAR Fanhouse Daytona Speedweeks Coverage.
On Sunday, stop by for the live blog of the 50th Daytona 500 at 3:00pm/ET.

For as much as Toyota struggled with their entry into the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series in 2007, they've seemingly made that up already during speedweeks at Daytona in 2008.

Tony Stewart continued that success in his No. 20 Armor All Toyota Camry Saturday afternoon Daytona in winning the Nationwide Series Camping World 300.

Stewart led 46 laps -- just one less than teammate Kyle Busch who led the most -- en route to his third career win in the opening event of the Nationwide Series. The two Gibbs drivers were the class of the field all day long.

Toyota took three of the top 5 spots and took it to the field most of the day. Brian Vickers, who qualified for Sunday's Daytona 500 by virtue of his Gatorade Duel qualifying race, finished 4th after battling for and taking the lead after a late restart.

Incredibly, the largest wreck of the day only involved roughly seven cars in a long slide off of turn four. The hardest hit, though, was suffered by Mark Green who get hung in the right rear by a spinning David Gililland and slammed the turn 2 wall head on.

Stewart's win was the first time a driver has won the Nationwide Series race at Daytona from the pole.

Check out all of the NASCAR Fanhouse Daytona Speedweeks Coverage. On Sunday, stop by for the live blog of the 50th Daytona 500 at 3:00pm/ET.

Batting one thousand must be getting easier in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the first race of the Gatorade Duels at Daytona Thursday afternoon, his second win in as many races with his new team from Hendrick Motorsports.

Earnhardt Jr., who had to move to the back of the pack prior to the start of the race with a host of other drivers because of engine issues on Wednesday, found himself in sixth place by lap 12, and in the lead by lap 17.

He would lead 26 laps en route to his win, which locks the No. 88 into a third-place start in Sunday's Daytona 500. Without a doubt, Earnhardt Jr. will be a clear favorite to win the golden anniversary of The Great American Race.

Earnhardt Jr. won Saturday night's Budweiser Shootout.

Aside from Earnhardt Jr., Kenny Wallace and Brian Vickers were likely the two happiest people in Daytona after the first of two races Thursday. Both drivers are outside of the top-35 in owner points but managed to lock themselves in the field for the season's biggest race.

Wallace, racing for a team that he was fired from last season, took his Furniture Row No. 87 Chevrolet to an eighth-place finish. In post-race interviews, Wallace said he was "in a zone" and definitely couldn't be happier.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. jumped to the top of the speed chart Tuesday morning at Daytona International Speedway, in a possible effort to gain some credence to his crew chief's predictions for 2008.

Monday afternoon, Tony Eury Jr. predicted his driver would pilot the Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 to four race victories in the coming season.

Earnhardt Jr.'s lap of 185.820mph landed him the fastest single-lap speed of any driver through both this and last week's test session at the legendary 2.5-mile track. That figure will stand as the top overall single-lap time as the Sprint Cup Series drivers will now switch to multi-car drafting mode for the afternoon session on Tuesday.

Wednesday, testing will wrap up with two more drafting sessions in the schedule -- pending forecasted afternoon rain stays away. If Wednesday is enough of a washout, Thursday is scheduled as the additional rain-date but the forecast that day looks even worse.

The Toyotas remained a strong presence at the top of the leader board Tuesday morning with Michael Waltrip, Brian Vickers, Dale Jarrett and Tony Stewart rounding out the Top-5 of the final single-lap session.

There were no reported incidents in the morning session, but stay tuned to NASCAR Fanhouse for updates on the Tuesday afternoon session and activities on Wednesday.

Most people aren't shocked to see Dale Earnhardt Jr. near the top of the speed chart at Daytona.

But when a second glance at the speed charts from the first day of the second round of Sprint Cup Series Daytona testing showed eight Toyotas in the top ten, more than a few people had to be somewhat surprised.

Dave Blaney's No. 22B Toyota took the top time Monday at 185.445 mph. Blaney set the fastest single-lap time of the both last week's session and the two from Monday.

Weather in Daytona was roughly 8-10 degrees cooler Monday than any day last week which could easily contribute to faster speeds.

There were no reported incidents during the first day despite 53 different cars finding the track in the second session at some point.

The rest of the Top-5 include Earnhardt Jr. (185.426mph), No. 83 Brian Vickers (185.307mph), No. 44 Dale Jarrett (185.292mph), and No. 55 Michael Waltrip (185.227mph).

Tony Stewart, Michael Waltip's No. 55M, Dale Jarrett's No. 44B, Vickers' No. 83B, and Dario Franchitti rounded out the Top-10. Last year's Daytona 500 winner Kevin Harvick reached just 39th in the afternoon speed chart with a lap of 181.939mph.

Speaking of playboy tendencies ...

When I saw the Fanhouse post about the Iowa high school football players got suspended for gesturing in a team photo, my mind immediately went to all the photos of NASCAR drivers that I have seen displaying "the shocker."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Martin Truex Jr. ... Brian Vickers .... Denny Hamlin and Reed Sorenson ... the list goes on.

Boys will be boys? Well, maybe that flies for the high school kiddos, but what's up with our drivers in this "family" sport? What's their excuse?

Do these guys really hold true the belief that "women are sexual objects, toys, things with which to be played and dominated?" Or have they just not matured yet? I'm sure Sherry Pollex, Truex's girlfriend, is real proud to claim her man in that photo. At least it's from 2004 and predates their relationship. She seems to have straightened him out--I don't recall a more recent one of Truex doing the shocker. Wish I could say the same about Junior.

Could this behavior have more to do with why he is single than he "hasn't run into any winners yet?" What "winner" is going to respect a guy who goes around giving women the fingers in photos? Nasty. Do you know where those fingers have been?

So, fans, we gonna tell the boys their shocking opinion of women just ain't cool? or do we just let the boys be boys?

NASCAR, Goodyear: It's about time.

Following testing earlier this week in toasty Carolina sun, Goodyear has said that a softer tire compound may make an appearance for the fall Nextel Cup race at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Ryan Newman, Martin Truex Jr., Brian Vickers, and David Ragan were the four drivers allowed for the tire test in the heat of the day.

Truex found the air temperature over 100 degrees and the cockpit temperature at over 140 degrees to be pretty difficult.

When asked about the hottest he's ever been in a race car, Truex Jr. responded,

"Probably today. I guess it's because the car is not set up to race and doesn't have all the heat shields and the insulation in it. Fifteen laps feel like 800 miles to me."

Luckily, the fall race won't likely be in the same heat as the Charlotte-region can cool tremendously at nighttime in the fall.

NASCAR and Goodyear will conduct a tire test Monday and Tuesday at Lowe's Motor Speedway with Ryan Newman, Martin Truex Jr., David Ragan, and Brian Vickers.

Finally, it seems, the sanctioning body is stepping up to the plate to find a better tire than the current rocks used there.

If all goes well with each manufacturer at the test, NASCAR will have a new compound available for the fall race at Lowe's during the midst of the Chase.

Remember May's activities at Charlotte?