Darby: COT may be the 'Car of Today' in 2008

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- The Car of Tomorrow may become the Car of Today much sooner than anyone originally envisioned.

Nextel Cup Series director John Darby said Wednesday that he expects teams to run a full schedule with COT racecars by 2008.

The original plan NASCAR developed after consulting with team owners called for a three-year phase-in of the new car, beginning with 16 of the 36 races in 2007 featuring it. The current plan calls for 26 of the 36 races in '08 to be run with COT cars, with a full schedule to follow in '09.

Now, Darby is saying the full slate of COT races could be coming a full year sooner.

The first race to be run with COT cars is scheduled for March 25 at Bristol Motor Speedway, where 50 teams began testing their versions of the machines Wednesday. Most drivers, crew chiefs and owners seemed to react to the tests in a favorable manner, leading reporters to ask Darby if he was beginning to hear an overwhelming positive response to the project as well. Previously, many of the same drivers, crew chiefs and owners had been vocal in their criticism and resistance to the COT program.

"Halleluiah," Darby said. "As time goes on, I think you will hear the volume of those cries will get turned up louder and louder and louder. I don't think I have to tell this group [of media] that we would welcome that with arms wide open. I tell you, it's just a pain in the butt for the teams run two parallel programs with two different racecars. It's a pain for us to manipulate and work and apply two different rulebooks, and two different inspection procedures.

"A lot of what's happening is that it's settling in to the competitors that this is the future, that this is the car. So why are we going to wait for three years? And I really don't expect that we will."

Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 8 Chevrolet, said the Car of Tomorrow far exceeded his expectations during testing Wednesday.

"It actually drives better than our other cars do here," Earnhardt said. "The car is an inch wider; it has a little more grip. I am really pleasantly surprised."

That is what Darby heard from most of those he spoke to following Wednesday's first test session at Bristol. Darby said that he expects to conduct numerous "one-on-one" meetings with drivers and team owners in the coming weeks and even months, regarding the possibility stepping up the COT schedule.

"The three-year rollout schedule was actually developed out of what the owners felt comfortable with as far as a pace to replace their current inventory of racecars," Darby said. "What's come to light is that these cars are much easier to build. They can build them much faster than the current cars we're running. And with that fabrication process, they believe they can shorten those timelines -- especially if they don't have to have the other program working over here.

"Whether we would expand the COT schedule for the 2007 season is probably not likely. But could we be all-in for 2008? I think that's very probable."

COT specials

SPEED will air two 30-minute specials from the Car of Tomorrow test sessions from Bristol, at 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday and Thursday.

John Roberts will host the SPEED coverage with analysis from 18-year NASCAR crew chief Larry McReynolds and reporting from Bob Dillner.

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Earnhardt sounded like he would welcome it.

"It has exceeded my expectations at this point, as far as how the car is driving," Earnhardt said. "I anticipated it to be a little more of a struggle to get the car to turn, to work, to get it up off the corner. Our lap times are comparable with the other chassis we have been running here the last couple of years. I think we are ahead of the game a little bit. As far as where I thought we would be, we are ahead of that."

Jeff Burton, driver of the No. 31 Chevrolet, added: "I think all in all, from a driver's perspective, once you get in the car, it's just a car. It's matter of getting the car to do the things you want it to do. ... In my world, it's no longer about the Car of Tomorrow. It's just about a car, trying to do it better than everyone else."

Darby said that the drivers and owners ultimately will drive any decisions that might be made regarding stepping up the COT schedule.

"All-in means everybody's got to be all-in," Darby said. "As early as we're at [following Wednesday's first test session], we've already had car owners who are comfortable with it approaching us and saying, 'Look, giddyup, let's go!'

"I believe as we go through the season, that list will continue to grow. And once the car owners are all there, NASCAR won't have any problem with welcoming that in 2008. But the garage will be the driving factor in that."

Another factor that will have to be considered before moving the schedule up, according to Darby, is making certain all the race teams can get all the parts they'll need to build fleets exclusively of the COT variety within an accelerated time frame.

"It sounds real easy, like flipping a switch. But it's actually really complicated. There are a lot of boxes to check," he said. "You start with the drivers and car owners, where you get a comfort zone. ... But what we can't have happen is have four teams in the garage not have something available to them."