In the Field: Elliott Sadler

We had our first taste of the Car of Tomorrow in restrictor plate mode this week at Talladega, and while the racetrack is as wide-open and boulevard smooth as it was last spring, the cars are definitely different.

So our first race with the COT at Talladega next month is going to be a lot different than what we've seen in the past with the races in the old car.

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What we saw in almost two days of testing, before the rains came, you could pretty much throw a blanket over all 43 cars -- they all pretty much ran the same speed. When you have that, you don't have to be the best drafter in the world to work your way to the front -- it will depend on what line you're in.

So I guess in some ways that might be just like what we've had recently.

The only bad thing about these cars is you can't see out of them, at all. Before, as a racecar driver, you kind of want to look ahead, as far as you can; and to do that, you look through the windshield of the car in front of you to see if there's a wreck going on -- so you have time to react -- or to see what line is moving ahead better.

But now, with these big greenhouses and these wings, you can't see anything. All you can see is the back bumper of the car that's right in front of you -- so it's a little bit harder, as far as that's concerned.

Your eyesight is cut down to a very, very bare minimum. It seems to me that was what all the drivers were fussing and complaining about the most when we were down there testing.

I don't really know if there's any way to fix it or not. NASCAR was talking about maybe doing something with the wing -- maybe using some kind of different material -- to where it's more clear or whatever.

But the greenhouses are still so big, that you just can't see through them with the wing there, like you used to. You just can't see anything.

To compare it to what the normal, average everyday race fan might experience; it would be like going down the interstate in a sports car tailgating a tractor-trailer -- and you can't see anything around him.

You've pretty much got to take the truck driver's word for it and to trust him to make the right decisions about what he's doing, that will affect both of you.

That's pretty much the way we're going to have to race at Talladega, because you can't see for yourself any more -- and that's how us racecar drivers make our living. We understand looking ahead and making decisions and seeing what line's going to move before it even starts moving.

Now, you've pretty much got to wait and see what the car in front of you does.

It does make you change your thought process and what you're doing. You've just got to draft differently than what you've done in the past; you've got to change up what you've been doing. And you've got to make sure you're on the bumper of a guy you really trust.

And you've got to make sure he's on the bumper of a guy he really trusts. It's just that if something happens in front of us there -- it's going to be too late to try to miss it; whereas before, you could see two guys really racing hard in front of you, maybe side-drafting too much and you might say 'uh, they might cause a problem.'

So you'd pick a different line or drop back a little bit, to do something to make it where if they did get in trouble, you could miss it. Now, you can't see any of that going on -- you just see what's right in front of you. So it definitely was a lot different, and it was pretty hairy.

I mean, these cars were right on top of each other. It reminds me of the old rules we used to have, five or six years ago with the wicker and stuff on the top of the cars.

No car can get away -- we're all going to be right there on top of each other. I saw some cars start last in a 20-car draft and lead five laps later-- and be running 20th in the next five laps.

There's a lot of shuffling that's going to be going on.

And even though we had a bigger plate, the biggest we've had in a while on Monday and then one on Tuesday that was smaller, but bigger than the last one we ran on the standard cars; there really wasn't any difference that I noticed in throttle response.

This track has so much grip and it's so wide -- it's as wide as a football field -- so there's no such thing as throttle response at this racetrack. You're just wide open all the way around, and all you're worrying about is how fast can you go, and how fast you can hook up with the draft.

Talladega is all about speed, and how the COT handles, or has handled anywhere else this season, is no issue.

The track is so smooth and there's so much grip -- and the bumpers of these cars line up so well that you can just bump draft all the way around the racetrack.

I guess we were running a little bit too fast with the bigger plate and the bigger wicker on Monday; which I think made it better for racing because you couldn't bump draft the guy in front of you as much because the bigger wicker was stalling out the air and you couldn't really get up and push the guy in front of you as much as you wanted to.

With the smaller wicker, man, you could knock the crap out of the guy in front of you. You could really push him and hit him, which is just going to put us all that much closer together.

Tuesday we saw a lot more bump drafting -- all kinds of beating and banging. We've always bump drafted a little bit, but Tuesday, by far there was a lot more beating and banging going on.

With the rules that we have with the COT, with the bumpers, we can't really stiffen up the rear of these cars. The rear bumper is really soft, because there's not much material back there to keep the bumper stiff.

If a guy doesn't know what he's doing when he bump drafts you, he can hook you pretty badly; because all of our back bumpers were bent-in, a lot.

It's going to be new and it's going to be a lot different. I think it's going to be a great race -- and I think it could have the best potential for a surprise winner than any other racetrack that we race at this year, because of the way that the draft works -- and that your car doesn't have to be running exceptionally well to be running up front.

But I have a feeling, with the way the draft now works, that our back bumpers, after we've raced at Talladega, will look like they've raced at Martinsville.

No doubt, there will be some interesting things brought to the table come that Sunday.

Elliott Sadler, now in his ninth full season in the Cup Series, shares weekly with NASCAR.COM readers life on the road through staff writer Dave Rodman.