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Tuesday, December 18, 2007 8:39:39 PM
NASCAR 2008: Car of Tomorrow
Pete Pistone
Managing Editor Posted Tuesday, December 18, 2007
The COT will race at Daytona for the first time.
NASCAR now officially needs a new name for the Car of Tomorrow.
The COT becomes the full-time Sprint Cup car of today beginning next season when the next evolution of the series machine is employed in all 36 races on the schedule.
After a controversial and mostly successful debut in a limited schedule this season, NASCAR is ready to roll-out the vehicle in full force in 2008.
But the question remains, is everyone else ready?
"We are proud of how the new car has performed at multiple tracks," said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president of competition. "NASCAR, with the support of team owners, agreed that the new car is ready to compete at all NASCAR Nextel Cup Series events in 2008. Beginning next year the Car of Tomorrow is officially 'the car,' a Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford and Toyota."
But not everyone agrees that the time to go full-time is right. Many drivers still think there's a long way to go in order to work out the kinks and other gremlins experienced in the limited COT schedule this season.
"The cars don’t have any downforce on the front. We drivers talk about the car amongst ourselves, and there are a lot of things we do like about the car and a lot of things we do not like," Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. "The car is really, really tight, or really, really loose. There is no middle ground. We engineered for 30 years to get to one point, and this is a totally new car.
"It is going to take a long time to figure out what this car likes."
But like it or not, the time to figure things out in total is here.
After running the car on short tracks, road courses and one superspeedway - Talladega last October - the new car will get its first taste of action on intermediate tracks as well as Daytona International Speedway in 2008.
With the bulk of the schedule on 1.5 and 2-mile tracks, running the new car at those speedways brings a great unknown.
And after last October's Talladega debut, which saw nothing but a single-file parade for most of the race until the final laps of the race, the jury is still out how the COT will perform in four plate races next season.
"It was crazy,' said Ryan Newman after the fall Talladega visit. "I think the racing was not very good. The racing was disappointing. To see single-file racing, and the guy that wins the race is sitting in the back all day, just lounging around…. That’s not racing to me.
"I hope this wasn’t what NASCAR intended with this car."
We will all find out how it turns out when the green flag flies in next February's Daytona 500 to officially begin a new era in NASCAR racing.
http://www.racingone.com/article.aspx?artnum=39579
Pete Pistone
Managing Editor Posted Tuesday, December 18, 2007
The COT will race at Daytona for the first time.
NASCAR now officially needs a new name for the Car of Tomorrow.
The COT becomes the full-time Sprint Cup car of today beginning next season when the next evolution of the series machine is employed in all 36 races on the schedule.
After a controversial and mostly successful debut in a limited schedule this season, NASCAR is ready to roll-out the vehicle in full force in 2008.
But the question remains, is everyone else ready?
"We are proud of how the new car has performed at multiple tracks," said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president of competition. "NASCAR, with the support of team owners, agreed that the new car is ready to compete at all NASCAR Nextel Cup Series events in 2008. Beginning next year the Car of Tomorrow is officially 'the car,' a Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford and Toyota."
But not everyone agrees that the time to go full-time is right. Many drivers still think there's a long way to go in order to work out the kinks and other gremlins experienced in the limited COT schedule this season.
"The cars don’t have any downforce on the front. We drivers talk about the car amongst ourselves, and there are a lot of things we do like about the car and a lot of things we do not like," Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. "The car is really, really tight, or really, really loose. There is no middle ground. We engineered for 30 years to get to one point, and this is a totally new car.
"It is going to take a long time to figure out what this car likes."
But like it or not, the time to figure things out in total is here.
After running the car on short tracks, road courses and one superspeedway - Talladega last October - the new car will get its first taste of action on intermediate tracks as well as Daytona International Speedway in 2008.
With the bulk of the schedule on 1.5 and 2-mile tracks, running the new car at those speedways brings a great unknown.
And after last October's Talladega debut, which saw nothing but a single-file parade for most of the race until the final laps of the race, the jury is still out how the COT will perform in four plate races next season.
"It was crazy,' said Ryan Newman after the fall Talladega visit. "I think the racing was not very good. The racing was disappointing. To see single-file racing, and the guy that wins the race is sitting in the back all day, just lounging around…. That’s not racing to me.
"I hope this wasn’t what NASCAR intended with this car."
We will all find out how it turns out when the green flag flies in next February's Daytona 500 to officially begin a new era in NASCAR racing.
http://www.racingone.com/article.aspx?artnum=39579
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