Mixed reviews
After seven years of planning, NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow finally debuted last weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, a debut that was a typical Bristol affair when you got beneath the hype surrounding the new machines. But you didn't have to dig deep to get what winner Kyle Busch felt about the Nextel Cup Series' new toy.
“I’m still not a very big fan of these things,” Busch said after he held off a charging Jeff Burton on the final lap to win the Food City 500. “I can’t stand to drive them. They suck.”
Considering personalities are at a premium among most NASCAR drivers these days, I found this to be absolutely hilarious and expected an itchy-trigger response from NASCAR, which has poured untold amounts of money and time into the project. That response hasn't come yet, thankfully. And it turns out that the younger Busch brother isn't the only one to feel the same way about the COT. But there's also a group that's willing to defend it.
Those who hoped for an equalized playing field were sorely disappointed as two Hendrick cars (Busch and Jeff Gordon), two Richard Childress Racing cars (Burton and Kevin Harvick) and a Roush-Fenway Racing (Greg Biffle) car made up the top five. But on the flip side, drivers gave the COT a thumbs-up when it came to safety, particularly Dale Jarrett after he got punted into the wall by Matt Kenseth early in the race.
But all in all, it really was just another race at Bristol, full of close-quarter racing, bent sheet metal, and bruised egos. The Car of Tomorrow will take some getting used to and it'll get tougher this weekend at the half-mile in Martinsville, Va. The flat, paper-clip shape of the track, plus the COT's truck-like handling (as in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series), will make for a hard challenge at every turn.
But the world has not ended. NASCAR's Daytona Beach headquarters hasn't been burned to the ground (I don’t think, anyway). And the best stock car drivers in the world will continue to learn about this newfangled Car of Tomorrow.
C'est la vie. Such is life.
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The IndyCar Series season opener on Saturday was a stinker in almost every sense of the word. Blame Dan Wheldon for that. In front of 35,000 fans at Homestead Miami Speedway, the 2005 Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar Series champ tore the field apart as his No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda beat teammate Scott Dixon to the checkered flag by more than six seconds. The Englishman led 179 of 200 laps under the lights and lapped all but five of the 20 cars in the field.
However, there were some people who were happy with the XM Satellite Radio Indy 300 besides TCGR. Ethanol officials were on hand at Saturday night's race, which was the first IndyCar Series event to have 100 percent fuel-grade ethanol fueling each car. It's also the first time a renewable resource has been used as fuel in motorsports.
The IndyCar Series' switch to ethanol has generated some decent press, including a recent segment on ABC World News Tonight. And it’s not the only one trying to help the planet. The American Le Mans Series is racing this year with alternative fuels from clean diesel to E10 ethanol-enriched gasoline. NASCAR is behind the curve, having only recently switched from leaded to unleaded fuel. But it's still an improvement, so I'll let you decide if they get proverbial cake.
I refer you to RACER Magazine's David Phillips' piece on his quest to find the "real" cars of tomorrow, which features his takes on all three series and their stances on going green. I'd be lying to you if this environmental and technological revolution in racing hasn't gotten me to be more aware about the world around us. I won't turn into Al Gore or anything, but for a race fan, it's something to keep an eye on.
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THE WEEK AHEAD:
NASCAR Nextel Cup -- Goody's Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville Speedway (.524-mile oval, 12 degrees banking), Martinsville, Va.; Sun., 1:30 p.m., Ch. 25.
NASCAR Busch Series -- Off week.
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series -- Kroger 250 at Martinsville; Sat., 3 p.m., Ch. 25.
IndyCar Series -- Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla. (1.8-mile, 14-turn street course); Sun., 2:30 p.m., ESPN.
Indy Pro Series -- Miami 100 at Homestead Miami Speedway (1.5-mile oval); tape-delay broadcast; Today, 5 p.m., ESPN2.
Champ Car World Series -- Season opener April 8.
Formula One -- Off week.
