Writing.Com: Thoughts on COT and Mexico

So, we watched the updates on ESPN and Speed regarding the testing at Bristol this week. The drivers (as the media spokesmen for their teams) had a pretty uniform opinion of the COT (Car of Tomorrow) at Bristol. Hard to turn, but after the testing session it seemed they had some good ideas on what to do. OK...that's what a driver said. Jeff Burton perhaps had the most honest response...it's a car. He gets in and he drives it. This testing session wasn't really about what the drivers thought, anyway. It was more about letting the engineers and crews learn about how they could tweak the new aero-parts, adjust suspension as much as they were able...basically get a baseline on how the car would react at a short high banked track.

Some of the real aero lessons will be learned at some of the faster tracks this season, like Dover. The sixteen races the COT is scheduled to run at this year are all small tracks, save for Talladega. They are not the aero-dependent speed monsters that seem to draw to biggest audiences, in person and on TV.

So comes the big discussion. Suddenly NASCAR wants to move the schedule up for running all races with the COT to next year instead of the stepping stones they provided for the '07 and '08 seasons. Most of the drivers shrugged with disinterest when asked if they thought this was a good idea. Jeff Gordon was the only one I heard that showed some reservations about it...

It came back to money... Right now the teams have to maintain two stables of cars; the current model and the COT. But none of them have enough of the COT's to run a full schedule. NASCAR did this phase-it-in system so the smaller teams would have time to build sufficient vehicles (what with having to get the cars certified now). It wasn't so much for the research desired by all the teams for running a new body. So, why does NASCAR suddenly think it would be fine to push up the schedule? Huh? Another indication they might not be thinking of the smaller stables that are the heart of the sport, if not the money-makers.

Mexico...I don't really care that we're racing in a different country. Good relations and all that are nice, but not interesting. What I love is the road course driving. For once I am not watching a preview of the Sunday race. I have new names, new faces, and new talent. It expands the horizons of the sport in a meaningful manner. This brings competitors together that otherwise would not consider entering a NASCAR event, and maybe they should. I'm watching the CASCAR champ (a young 18 year old) and some local favorites from Mexico. Not only that...we get to turn right as well.

Next week? It's Vegas Baby, like you've never seen it before.

Catch ya'll later