Track Smack: COT in the books, top 35 and JGR

1. Guys, we've got one COT race in the books, so can we give 'em a break? How will the COT play at Martinsville?

David Caraviello: Probably a lot like it played at Bristol, with crews and drivers trying to figure the thing out. And while this transition process hasn't necessarily made for great racing, things have probably gone better than NASCAR could have hoped to this point.

Mark Aumann: I think we'll see a lot of the same: cars that don't turn very well, drivers having to work the gas and brakes hard to get around the corners and guys trying to keep from damaging the splitters and wings.

Dave Rodman: That's the thing. With the exception of D.J.'s wreck -- which was a car-killer in any era -- I thought the splitters, particularly, did very well in their bouts with the wall.

Mark Aumann: It's obvious the car is safer. Whether it's adjustable I think is still debatable.

Dave Rodman: I was pretty impressed with how durable the cars were. The racing at Bristol was about what I expected -- some were gonna hit it and some weren't. That's the setups, guys -- the setups.

David Caraviello: No rear wings went flying off, as people had feared. Inspection didn't take 500 hours, as many had feared. A lot of those worst-case scenarios have been debunked.

Mark Aumann: Well, not many guys went in headfirst. Maybe Montoya, but that wasn't at full speed. Saw a lot of rear end hits.

Dave Rodman: It was a starting point -- which we had to get to. I think, even though they had to use more brake to help turn the cars, they'll have figured that out some more at Martinsville.

Mark Aumann: Well, they'd better, because there's no banking to help.

David Caraviello: Now it's just a matter of working on the car to make it more raceable. That will come with time, but it was crazy at Bristol, seeing the leaders all strung out and like 16 cars on the lead lap halfway through the race.

Mark Aumann: At least the track should be a little less rough, which means they might not see as much front end bounce.

Dave Rodman: What's funny is I don't know if we would have thought there would be so many "old shoe guys" in the Cup garage. I thought the best display was how much Tony Stewart whined beforehand -- then he just went out and drove everybody into the ground in the race. (Continued)