Sort of but not really. These are race engines only and are not a modification of any production engine offering. The basic parts are supplied to people like Roush, Hendricks, and Jasper where the engines are really built.
Toyota, TRD more specifically, does have a pushrod V8 that they have been using quite successfully in the truck series. It has won a few races and has proven reliability. I suspect they feel that they have acquired enough experience there to move to the Cup series where they get more exposure for their investment. IIRC, they are working with Jasper.
Toyota is in a unique position here. They are one manufacturer who is actually making money and thus have money to burn in this sport.
A lot of the GOBs hate the fact that Toyota has chosen to enter this sport. They don't want a non-American (read Japanese) company in it. They often fail to grasp that Toyota and other "foreign" cars are frequently more american than the big three. Chrysler is now a German owned company. The American "big three" use a higher percentage of "foreign" made parts in their automobiles than either Toyota or Honda.
In eny event, it will give them someone to boo at and throw beer cans at other than Jeff Gordon
[RANT]
Me, I like the added competition. What I don't like is the way NASCAR has been leading the sport in the past two years. They are doing everything they can to stifle innovation and lessen competition. They don't want to see any manufacturer or team dominate the races. So instead of letting the competitors figure out how to make their cars better, NASCAR takes away the advantages. I don't like what they have done by adding the "sprint" to the end of the series. I especially don't like their common body scheme program. I want the cars to actually resemble the automaker's offering. Pasting a decal and badge on identical cars doesn't make a Ford look much different than a Chrysler or a Chevy. I don't like the fact that the engines are based on 60's designs. I believe that when NASCAR gets done they will have identical cars with identical engines in the series just like their highly unsuccessful(IMHO) IROC series. I find the IROC series boring and no longer watch it.
[RANT OFF]