COT hits the big track
The biggest test yet for NASCAR’s Car of Tomorrow will come today at Talladega Superspeedway in the blocky car’s first race on a superspeedway.
Other than a two-day test last month, few of the Nextel Cup drivers have even had the chance to see what the new car will do on NASCAR’s biggest oval. And, even those who did take part in that test, only had limited drafting sessions with 10 to 12 cars.
In today’s UAW-Ford 500, there will be 43 of them out there on the high-banked 2.66-mile circuit.
The COT is the result of seven years of development by NASCAR, building a taller, wider and, hopefully, safer car that can be adapted for use on different size tracks, thereby reducing the need for its teams to build separate cars for each configuration.
NASCAR, which has mandated the COT be used for the entire schedule in 2008, introduced the cars into Cup competition this season only at the tracks shorter than 1 1/2 miles, the two road courses and, now, Talladega. They will have run a total of 16 COT events in 2007.
“The way the cars are set up and the big hole they punch in the air, it should be way wilder than anything we’ve ever seen (at Talladega),” said Denny Hamlin, one of the 12 Cup drivers competing in the Chase for the championship.
That’s saying a mouthful, since Talladega, the only event in the 10-race Chase at which carburetor restrictor plates are used to keep the cars under 200 mph, has a reputation for the type of two- and three-wide freight trains that produce spectacular multicar pileups.
One other factor with the COT is that the new cars are virtually identical, regardless of make. And NASCAR’s tight inspection process is intended to make sure it stays that way.
Chevrolets have won 16 of the last 17 Cup races at Talladega, including a win by four-time series champion Jeff Gordon in April. “We’re going to put on a spectacular race,” Gordon said. “I expect it to be pretty wild, pretty crazy and a heck of a show for the fans.”
Kasey Kahne, who drives a Dodge, said, “I think it’s going to be the best Car of Tomorrow race we’ve had yet. The way the cars line up, you can do things out there and have fun. I think it’s going to be the most fun we’ve had in the new car.”
If the drivers like the result with the new COT, it’s likely the fans will, too.
No problem
Nobody could blame two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart if he was upset after NASCAR waited out the rain at Kansas Speedway, a decision that cost Stewart a win and eventually a lot of points in the Chase.
Stewart, stretching his gas to the limit, was out front when heavy rains hit the speedway just past halfway in the race. If NASCAR had called it at that point, Stewart would have been the winner.
Instead, officials waited more than two hours and eventually restarted the race. Stewart, who started the day just two points out of the lead, was involved in a crash, finished 39th and dropped to fourth – 117 points out.
On his satellite radio show Tuesday night, he said NASCAR did the right thing.
“You look at it from their standpoint,” he said. “If they call the race, we’re going to leave Kansas City with a 50- or 60-point lead and that could have been the difference between us stealing a championship away from somebody or not.
“NASCAR, in my opinion, did exactly the right thing, did everything they could to get it in. It’s the same thing we would have done at Eldora (the dirt track Stewart owns in Ohio). And the reason it was the right decision is let us settle it on the racetrack. Let us win the championship on the racetrack. Don’t let weather be a determining factor in those last 10 races of who is going to win or not win the championship.”
Stat of the week
Over the past eight years, there haven’t been many drivers better than Tony Stewart at Talladega Superspeedway. But every race, there’s always been at least one who was.
Stewart has competed in 16 Cup races at Talladega since 1999, his rookie season. Ten times he has finished in the top six, including six runner-up finishes. Despite being so close so often, Stewart, a 29-time winner, remains winless at the Alabama track.