Bowyer puts the COT through crash test (cont'd)

Most drivers were concerned with damaging the front splitter the entire test. When cars hit the track Wednesday morning, nobody ran the normal race line while trying to avoid any potential contact between the track and the splitter. As the first day progressed, everyone got more comfortable with the normal line.

"Everybody was so curious; it reminded me of dirt-track racing or motocross racing -- nobody wants to go out in the mud," Bowyer said. "Nobody wanted to go out there and be the test dummy. Cars are going off into the corner and bouncing and shooting into the wall. Everybody's like, 'Whoa, we'll wait a while and see if they figure it out.'"

Ward Burton suffered the first real significant damage Wednesday night when he spun and destroyed his splitter.

It was Bowyer's turn on Thursday.

"I think that's something we need to look at and make better," Bowyer said of the amount of damage done to his car after his contact. "You're going to be bumping and gouging here and probably get into the wall up off [the turn]. Seems like everybody struggles getting off the corner. You come off with a lot of input in the steering wheel and it snaps loose. That's going to be a precaution area there."

Bowyer said the race here on March 25, which will debut the COT, might be more like a free-for-all once the green flag drops.

"I'm afraid it won't be much racing," Bowyer said. "You're racing yourself quite a bit. I'd say there'll be a lot of cars on the inside line at the end of the race with the radiator showing."

Darby said that's not to blame on the Car of Tomorrow.

"I don't think anybody intended to build a crash-proof racecar," Darby said. "There's always going to be slips and always going to be parts failures. Cars are going to continue to crash, I hate to say normally, but the way we see today."

Bowyer said the tightness of the car affected how he was able to handle it once it brook loose.

"As soon as it got sideways I wasn't able to correct it," Bowyer said. "Any other time you're able to compensate for it and chase it up the corner with the banking. Wasn't no chasing that one."