Penske sees COT as a chance for '07 rebound

MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- It was just one lap, one seemingly meaningless lap that injected Penske Racing with more life than it had received in all of 2006 -- 191 mph, January, Daytona, authored by Kurt Busch in the brick-like Car of Tomorrow.

It is no secret that Penske Racing was the most disappointing team last season. The team had imported Busch, the high-priced former champion, to replace Rusty Wallace, and Busch simply couldn't make the cars go fast. Neither could Ryan Newman.

That was what made Busch's test lap of 191.188 mph so eye-opening. But even more noteworthy were the comments made by Busch about the car: He swore that the car was a good thing for the sport, that he enjoyed driving it, etc.

In short, Busch's 100-percent positive reaction to the Car of Tomorrow was in direct contrast to the bashing the COT had suffered over the offseason.

"There is the aspect of safety, cost and performance," Busch said. "That is the intriguing part as a driver; we want to see more side-by-side action.

"We want to see a slingshot-type move at a restrictor-plate race so those are the encouraging moments that we are all waiting and anticipating."

Busch -- and Penske Racing as a whole -- realized early on that the COT could be used as a tool to revive a sagging team. Ironically, the COT will be used on the very tracks that Penske did not struggle on last season.

Busch's only victory in 2006 came at Bristol. The team struggled badly at the 1.5-mile tracks, and Penske Racing has countered by building a dozen cars for these races in 2007 -- cars that will be obsolete within a year.

The picture of Busch and Newman struggling to stay on the lead lap was an image that stayed with Penske Racing president Don Miller.

"We spent a lot of time at where we had to go," Miller said. "Let's face the facts: we were behind on the mile-and-a-halfs. We figured it out now, but that doesn't help last year."

The severe problems from 2006 -- coupled with the incoming Car of Tomorrow -- created the toughest offseason in the history of Penske Racing, an offseason that began with a November all-hands-on-deck meeting.

As the 2006 season came to a close, Miller met with his drivers and crew chiefs to discuss the Car of Tomorrow and how they could use the car to create a team renaissance. At the time, Penske had just one completed COT. Once NASCAR firmed up the specifications for the COT, the team began turning them out en masse.

Penske built some COTs using fiberglass components, knowing the car wouldn't pass inspection. That wasn't important, because the team wanted to merely get the car on the track for testing.

Penske also implemented a composite seat for the COT, meaning Busch and Newman will have the same feel in the cockpit, although Busch has joked that he will need a considerable amount of added foam to be comfortable.

"If this is the car we are going to race, let's get after it," Miller said. "It was all of us. We are not going to achieve anything by sitting here grousing.

"I told [the team] it reminds of something my dad told me a long time ago. He said, 'Stop thinking about what you should have, and start working on what you got.' That is our philosophy right now."

Busch has already logged a ton of miles in the COT on a variety of tracks. He has driven the new car on short tracks, intermediates and restrictor-plate tracks, and he is banking on that experience to give Penske a definitive COT edge.

"It is a possibility that whatever driver can adapt will have the best chance of faring well with the car," Busch said. "But it being with the percentage of the schedule that it has, nearly 50 percent, it is going to be an important piece of the 2007 season."