5 questions
By RICK MINTER
As NASCAR nears the starting line for the 2007 season, here are some answers to the most widely asked inquiries. 1. How will the sport react to the first foreign manufacturer as a regular competitor?

Since the late 1940s, NASCAR has been an American sport, with the starting fields composed primarily of automobiles with nameplates from the USA. But this year, the Toyota Camry makes its debut with three teams and seven full-time drivers planning to enter every race and at least one parttime team expected to run a limited schedule.

The Toyota camp includes some of the sport's biggest names. The driver lineup includes Dale Jarrett, Dave Blaney, Brian Vickers, David Reutimann, Jeremy Mayfield and A.J. Allmendinger. And on the crew chief side, two proven winners, Doug Richert and Matt Borland, are leading the teams of Vickers and Jarrett, respectively.

While the debut of the Camrys during preseason testing at Daytona International Speedway created little stir, most expect that to change in February when the cars make their debut in competition.

"A lot of people are going to be surprised," Jarrett said, adding that he has no doubt that a Toyota will visit Victory Lane this year.

MONTOYA

"I don't think one is a question, it's how many we can get in there and win. … I look for that to happen." And he wants to be the one doing the winning.

"I hope to be the lead dog that the rest can follow," he said. 2. Just how big an impact will Juan Pablo Montoya have on the sport?

The affable Colombian, who shocked the racing world last year by announcing he was leaving the elite Formula One circuit to race in NASCAR for Chip Ganassi, already has drawn international attention to NASCAR. The question this year is how much can he grow the sport's fan base.

And based on his initial runs last year, he's not afraid to mix it up with the stock car set.

At Homestead last November, he tangled with Ryan Newman and wound up in a fiery wreck. Afterward, the NASCAR media corps found itself competing for time with Spanish-speaking reporters from international media outlets.

Montoya granted his first interviews in Spanish, then answered question in English. 3. Will old pros like Ricky Rudd, Dale Jarrett, Mark Martin and Bill Elliott regain some of their former glory, or will they be nothing more than big-name back-markers?

Rudd, 50, is coming off a year of retirement and taking over the wheel of the No. 88 at Robert Yates Racing. The car has won just one race since the start of the 2004 season, and Rudd hasn't won since 2002. But Rudd and car owner Robert Yates promise they'll be substantially improved this year. Jarrett, who left the No. 88 last year for the No. 44 Toyota at Michael Waltrip Racing, vows to lead the Toyota contingent to multiple victories. Martin and Elliott are planning part-time Cup schedules, with Martin running for Ginn Motorsports and Elliott mulling a deal with fellow Georgians John Carter and Roger Craven and their No. 37 Dodge team. 4. Will the Car of Tomorrow meet NASCAR's - and fans' - expectations?

NASCAR's COT, which makes its debut at Bristol, will be run in 16 races, including five of the 10 in the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

It's difficult to find anyone in the garage who likes the car, which is boxier than the current vehicles and has a plywood splitter on the front and a wing on the rear. It's designed to be safer for drivers and produce better racing, but it has almost no fans in the garage.

"You've heard that old saying about the sharpest knife in the drawer," Sterling Marlin said. "Well there must have been a bunch of dull ones in there when they drew that thing up."

Mechanics say the front end tends to pick up litter on the track and block the air flow to the radiator, and it's difficult to adjust the car where it handles well.

The car is set to run in both races at Bristol, Martinsville, Richmond, Phoenix, New Hampshire and Dover, as well as at Darlington,

Watkins Glen, Infineon and the second race at

Talladega.

5. Will new players in television help NASCAR's sagging ratings, which dropped as much as 20 percent in some major markets last year?

There will be new faces - and some familiar ones - on TV and new voices on the radio as NASCAR brings on new media partners. ESPN is returning to the TV lineup, essentially replacing NBC, while Sirius replaces XM as NASCAR's official satellite radio partner.

NASCAR broadcasting veteran Dr. Jerry Punch will share the ESPN booth with former driver Rusty Wallace and former crew chief and car owner Andy Petree.