Notes: Toyota hoping to close gap with COT

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Toyota Racing Development's senior manager Andy Graves is a fan of the Car of Tomorrow, mainly because he thinks it will put NASCAR's newest manufacturer on a level plane with the existing makes.

"I think it does help," Graves said during COT testing at Bristol Motor Speedway. "You don't have the big, thick notebooks that you are racing against with the bigger organizations with the current car. But at the same time, we have a lot on our plate and a lot to do."

Toyota teams have struggled to make races in the first two weeks of the season.

Four of the eight teams made the Daytona 500 field, although Dale Jarrett's 22nd-place finish was the highlight of the race.

At California, Brian Vickers carried the torch, qualifying 15th and finishing 10th among the four Toyotas in the field. At the same time, there were three Toyotas that failed to qualify.

Rookie A.J. Allmendinger has yet to make a race for Team Red Bull.

"It's only going to help us because we are obviously 20-25 years of experience behind a lot of these teams," Allmendinger said, "and now with this, we're still going to be behind because a lot of these strong teams have the people and the resources to build cars and go testing. But at least I think we'll shorten that gap up a little bit."

"We're trying to spread our resources to do everything in the first year, and that makes it a little bit harder as well," Graves said. "We're definitely looking forward to the Car of Tomorrow races and it's going to be interesting having the first race here at Bristol."

Hamlin adjusting to COT

Denny Hamlin is a short-track racer. He grew up that way, and he proved as much last year with a sixth-place finish at the Bristol fall race and second-place finishes at Richmond and Martinsville.

And now he might be a Car of Tomorrow racer, too.

Hamlin led the first two COT test sessions on Wednesday at Bristol Motor Speedway, his first time in one of the new spec cars since May of last year.

"It means our team has done a whole lot of homework on this program the last couple of years," Hamlin said of his success on Day 1 of the two-day test. "This is the first really official test where guys are bringing their race stuff."

Hamlin's morning speed was 122.170 mph (15.706 seconds), while his afternoon speed dropped slightly to 121.605 (15.779). Hamlin was fourth in the evening session, at 121.481 mph (15.795 seconds).

"I haven't really tested this car that much," Hamlin said. "This is a fairly new experience to me, but it makes you feel good when you can come here and be competitive."

Reutimann recovering

Less than a week after enduring one of NASCAR's hardest hits, David Reutimann took a little time to recover this week.

Mark Green filled in for Reutimann during the morning session of Wednesday's Car of Tomorrow test at Bristol. He clocked a speed of 118.547 mph (16.186 seconds), good enough for 43rd in the 61-car field.

"Everything is pretty sore, my entire body, but I have been getting better each day since the wreck," said Reutimann, who has a bruised foot from his accident with less than 10 laps to go at California. "I feel pretty lucky to come through a deal like that with just a bruised foot and some body pain. That's pretty impressive and a credit to the safety in these racecars."

Did someone say safety?

Dale Earnhardt Jr. said the Car of Tomorrow will do exactly what NASCAR officials had in mind -- keep the drivers safer.

"Absolutely," Earnhardt said when asked if he feels safer in the COT. "I really do feel safer."

Earnhardt used the example of the larger side window, which allows drivers to get in and out of the car in a much simpler manner.

"At testing, it is really aggravating to climb in and out of the car, the old car," Earnhardt said. "It was a struggle getting in and out, a real pain. This car, it is real simple. You can hop out even if you only have two minutes to get out; it's no big deal because you can get right back in."