Nascar and Racing Car Of Tomorrow

It was a familiar, slightly sick feeling watching the frightening collision in Monday's race at Watkins Glen, N.Y. when Sam Hornish Jr.'s Dodge crashed into a wall, spun violently back on course, hit Jeff Gordon's Chevy sending it head-on into a steel barrier with four other cars bouncing off in a frightening melee.

The difference between it happening this week and it happening five or 10 year ago, however, was that all the drivers climbed out of their cars on their own Monday. Other than bumps, bruises and being very sore, they were okay.

The safety innovations of NASCAR's current car, the COT, make it one of the most significant evolutions in the sport's history. Now Dale Earnhardt Jr. is urging NASCAR to raise the car's performance level to match its improved safety standards.

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) -- NASCAR has a "town hall meeting" scheduled with its drivers next week.

The sport's longtime rival, Bruton Smith, held one of his own Saturday.

Smith, the outspoken, multimillionaire chairman of Speedway Motorsports Inc., ripped NASCAR for choosing not to disclose the banned substance involved in driver Jeremy Mayfield's suspension, for dropping record penalties on underfunded driver Carl Long and for the kind of racing created with the Car of Tomorrow.

So how does a "Top-5" car run in the middle of the pack for nearly an entire race?

Just ask Jeff Gordon.

Following last Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Gordon found himself with a fourth-place finish in NASCAR's longest event after stretching his fuel mileage late in the race. That finish, though, wasn't an accurate picture of Gordon's night at LMS.

According to NASCAR's loop data, Gordon had an average running position throughout the race of 19th. Winner Kasey Kahne however averaged a 5th-place effort.

In years past, statistics like that and Gordon pulling out a fourth-place finish would be indicative of a car that just wasn't performing throughout the event, but that simply wasn't true. Instead, what kept Gordon -- and plenty of other drivers -- from moving through the field was his track position.

"...When we got up front there and got our lap back, I thought hey, you know, we've got a pretty decent car. We just need track position," said Gordon after the race. "Once we got our lap back, we were back in the back again and there were cars all over the place."

"You just can't go anywhere and you can't pass anybody."

As a race fan, I'm not particularly fond of a driver saying "you can't pass anybody".

...then this blogger is worried about Sunday's Coca-Cola 600.

Face it, NASCAR fans. The introduction of the Car of Tomorrow into full-time use for 2008 has produced some less than desirable racing at the 1.5-mile tracks that are near cookie-cutters of Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Tony Stewart first blamed it on the tires at Atlanta in March, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a subtle criticism a week ago at Darlington when he said after the race that passing other cars was as bad as its been in a long, long time at the Lady in Black.

My favorite comment, though, about how the new car is behaving on-track in race mode came from Matt Kenseth after Saturday night's Sprint All-Star Race XXIV when he referred to clean air as "magic" for the handling of the car.

Clean air -- undisturbed air that allows full downforce on a race car -- started to become a quick antidote for bad handling race cars with the previous version of the Sprint Cup car. The addition of a wing and splitter on the next-generation race cars used full time this year was supposed to decrease the effect of that variable.

Instead, it seems to have made it much, much worse.

I first noticed the phenomenon last week at Darlington, and boy, was it ever noticeable in Saturday night's Sprint All-Star Race XXIV at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

That phenomenon? NASCAR Sprint Cup cars driving down the straightaway sideways.

Yes, the "Car of Tomorrow" was designed to reduce the amount of tweaks that a team could do to the body and frame settings of the car as it traveled down the track. NASCAR wanted to rope in the gray areas of the rulebook that permitted teams to essentially build a race car that resembled a wave more than an arrow.

Teams trying to find the newest edge with the new car design have seemingly stumbled across a way to make a car faster by jogging the rear end out to the right side of the car, causing a "crab walk" effect as it drives down the straightaway. Literally speaking, if one was to stand in front of the car, you could plainly see the right rear tire.

NASCAR -- outfoxed on the rules for its new car -- has decided to take a stance and force the teams to take out the awkward rear ends to a certain degree.

Sprint Cup Series director John Darby said Saturday that teams will get a memo, likely this week, telling them to "clean up" the way they're turning their wheels to help the cars handle better.

"They need some of that, but there are some of them that have pushed it," Darby said.

Good for NASCAR on this one, I say. Frankly, the dirt track-type look on the straightaway isn't very visually appealing.

But I do think NASCAR is probably just getting to the tip of the ice berg in terms of the new car.

Check out all of the NASCAR Fanhouse Daytona Speedweeks coverage.

Say what you will, but it's been a long time since some of the top finishers in a race at Daytona for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series have raced cars that were as adaptable to other tracks as the ones that raced Saturday night.

The Budweiser Shootout, won by Hendrick Motorsports newcomer Dale Earnhardt Jr. in his first race with the team, had a majority of its news made the night before when a big wreck in practice forced many top contenders to backup cars for the money-only event.

Hendrick's Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson and Penske Racing's Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch all needed new cars for the event after separate Friday evening practice incidents. Because of the enormity of next Sunday's Daytona 500 and the amount of track time cars get leading up to it, none of those teams wanted to use the backup cars available for that race.

So instead, a "911 call" as Jimmie Johnson put it, went out to the teams nearly before the drivers had stopped colliding with the wall and each other Friday night to the race shops in suburban Charlotte, N.C. to summon in every able-bodied worker available.

It worked, and by Saturday morning, each team had a new car from the shop prepped, shined, and ready to race in that night's Shootout. And don't forget the fact that those cars were trucked from Charlotte to Daytona in that time, as well.

For Jeff Gordon, his car came from the garage floor, just months removed from winning at Darlington Raceway. Johnson's car? It was the winning car at the 3/4-mile Richmond International Raceway last spring.

I read a good line the other day by David Poole of The Charlotte Observer. In one his postseason columns, he made the point that NASCAR needs to be looking out the other window. Instead of looking out of the back of the tower at the business side Poole says, they need to take a glimpse at the track out front.

Doing that, he says, will naturally and positively affect the business side of the sport.

To me, NASCAR looks to be taking a step in that direction, as numerous articles over the past few days have indicated that the NASCAR Nationwide Series -- formerly known as Prince the NASCAR Busch Series -- is going to sport a much different race car in 2009, despite moving to the "NASCAR" (next-generation Car of Tomorrow) body style.

That same body style will be in full-time use for the Sprint Cup series in 2008.

Many complained, including myself, that NASCAR was simply going too far in keeping the two series the same, and not allowing any real definition.

Joe Balash, the director of the Nationwide Series, said that was not the intended plan, and talked about the two cars needing to drive different. The key? Suspension differences.

"We want the car to drive different.We've gone down the path of having two very similar cars and very easily taking the technology that makes the car turn both aerodynamically and with suspension interchange between the garages.

"As we go forward, we want more difference there. We want to have our cars use a more conventional spring setup. We're not going to use the bump-stops on the cars."

That's a nice step -- and there's more.

The 2007 NASCAR seasons is in the book and oh ... the memories and monotony. I will remember it most as the year Dale Earnhardt Jr. left the company his father started, Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus dominated and the season droned on in the car of tomorrow.

Here are the Top 35 things I will remember most about the 2007 NASCAR Season, in (mostly) chronological order:

1. AOL Sports welcomed NASCAR into the Fanhouse

2. Mark Martin didn't win the Daytona 500

3. Michael Waltrip Racing's Intake Gate

4. Washington State dissed NASCAR fans

5. Juan Pablo Montoya won in Mexico

6. Car of Tomorrow debuted at Bristol

7. Team Red Bull mechanic Jimmy Sprinkle murdered

8. The Virginia Tech Tragedy

9. Kevin James' Engine Command

NASCAR Chairman Brian France really loves the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

And because of that, don't expect any major amends to the format, or a complete reversal back to the standard point system -- regardless if many fans and at least one top driver questions how it affects the sport's future integrity.

France cited the increased point amounts for winning a race as a major reason why the Chase is working so well.

Example 1-A? Jimmie Johnson last week at Texas Motor Speedway.

"I actually called Jimmie Johnson on the phone and told him that [afterward]," France said. "By going after that win, he risked a lot -- because he knew how close it was and he knew that those bonus points were maybe going to be necessary to win it all. I think in the old days, a couple years ago, somebody might have settled for second."

Sure, you can't argue with the fact that adding 10 points to the winner's prize for a race was a good move. In fact, that number should be 20 to 30 points higher.

But are winning championships in the 10-race Chase playoff comparable to the "old" point system? Jeff Gordon doesn't see it that way.

Last week at Texas Motor Speedway, we heard plenty about how Jeff Gordon didn't have a good-handling car in the Saturday practice sessions leading up to the Dickie's 500.

And if Jeff Gordon wants any chance at re-capturing that Nextel Cup point lead and his fifth series championship, the No. 24 team is indeed going to have to make amends on how well they get the car dialed in.

"We're doing a great job on Friday qualifying and we need to do that again here today and next week in Homestead. But Saturday getting prepared for the race, we got to do a little bit better job," said Gordon Friday before qualifying at Phoenix.

Starting positions haven't been a problem for Gordon in the past few weeks. Gordon started second at Texas last week and at Atlanta two weeks back, he rolled off eighth. He starts third Sunday at Phoenix.

In each race, Gordon has finished seventh after battling a race car that often wanted to find contact with the SAFER barrier instead of with victory lane. Unfortunately for Gordon fans, the strong effort to salvage a decent finish has been significantly trumped by two-straight wins by teammate and Chase contender Jimmie Johnson.

It's definitely not lost on Gordon that the Saturday program needs to improve immediately at Phoenix and next week at Homestead if the No. 24 team wants any shot at Jimmie Johnson.

"We've got to step it up. There's no hiding that and I hope we can pull that off right here in Phoenix," said Gordon.