TBO.com - Live in the moment

NEXTEL CUP

Waltrip Warms To Car Of Tomorrow

Published: May 28, 2007

CONCORD, N.C. - NASCAR spent the weekend putting on a hard sell for its Car of Tomorrow. Count Darrell Waltrip among the converts.

"Even though I've not been a big fan of the car, I've learned to like it," the three-time points champion and television analyst said.

Waltrip spoke at an exhibit outside Lowe's Motor Speedway before Sunday's Coca-Cola 600. The exhibit featured cars ranging from Richard Petty's 1972 Dodge Charger and Waltrip's '77 Monte Carlo to the COT, which NASCAR announced last week will be used in all Nextel Cup races in 2008.

The boxier car has a detachable wing on the back and an adjustable splitter on the front. Several drivers have complained about how it handles, but Waltrip said it addresses NASCAR's biggest concerns: making the car safer and harder to illegally modify.

"NASCAR won't allow this car to get as screwed up as the last car," Waltrip said. "Like this car or not, it corrects a number of issues."

NASCAR has a ways to go to get everyone on board. Kyle Busch won the first race with the COT and then promptly ripped it. Dale Earnhardt Jr. said the car is too hard to turn and no fun to drive.

"It does some things that particularly the younger guys are not used to," said Brett Bodine, a NASCAR project engineer and former driver. "I think guys will quit complaining about it because if you're not willing to accept it, you might be a guy who can't get the job done in the Car of Tomorrow. It's like, you better learn to like it, because that's what you're going to race. And I'm sure owners are getting tired of hearing it."

Bodine feels the COT has done what they've wanted it to do: cut costs, increase side-by-side racing and improve safety. Teams will use the same car at all tracks, and Bodine thinks once the car becomes standard, it will reduce team costs by as much as 75 percent.

"Kevin Harvick's team has raced the same car in every COT race," Bodine said. "You couldn't even think about doing that with the current car - let alone a top team," Bodine said.

Hendrick Motorsports drivers have won all five COT races. Car owner Jack Roush last week said Hendrick skirted NASCAR's intention on the rules by testing the car at non-NASCAR tracks with non-Goodyear tires.

"It's definitely played a role in helping us get where we are," Hendrick driver Jeff Gordon said. "If the Roush teams aren't doing that, then that's their mistake."

GORDON DNF: Points leader Gordon's bad luck at Lowe's Motor Speedway continued.

Gordon was unhurt after a jarring, airborne crash on the 63rd lap, making it five straight races at LMS he's failed to finish.

Tony Raines' car clipped Gordon, who turned into the grass. He then came across the track sideways, where he hit the wall and took a broadside hit from A.J. Allmendinger.

"The [No.] 84 hit me right at the time I hit the wall, and that's what sent it up in the air like that," Gordon said. "Spectacular wreck, and it's unfortunate because that was an awesome race car we had."

Gordon had seven straight finishes of fourth or better this season snapped.

Gordon was one of 18 drivers involved in two wrecks before the race was 150 miles old.

"Guys driving way over their head too early in a 600-mile race, too early for any race," Gordon said.

The Associated Press