Toyota denies Dodges claim: A Toyota executive denied the company was looking for confidential Dodge information and also said the company would not pay for Bill Davis Racing's defense in recent litigation with Dodge. DaimlerChrysler won a $6.5 million jury award in a breach of contract lawsuit Feb. 9 in U.S. District Court in Michigan. The jury decided that BDR had given confidential Dodge information to Toyota during the time BDR was developing a truck for Toyota. "If we were going to copy people's stuff, it wouldn't be people running at the back, let me put it that way," Toyota Racing Development Senior Vice President/General Manager Lee White said in a jab at Dodge. Dodge terminated its Cup contract with BDR in May 2003 after discovering BDR was building Toyota trucks and promptly filed suit. BDR filed a counterclaim and asked for more than $9 million in the case, which went to trial in mid-January. The bill could climb toward $9 million if attorney's fees and other penalties are awarded to DaimlerChrysler, according to Robert Thackston, who represented Dodge in the suit. White and Davis continue plans to debut two Toyota Nextel Cup teams in 2007. "There is no moving back from the deal that we have. I'm sure he is going to appeal it or whatever he can do," White said. "That's his program and it's really nothing to do with us. He's never asked [for us to pay it]."(NASCAR Scene)(2-22-2006)