Inspection process for COT slow and tedious (cont'd)

"I don't know the exact number to come through [inspection during the test]. I'm sure that at least one car from every organization that is here came through and in most cases multiple cars from organizations came through. I think we got most of the garage area covered as far as letting them touch and feel some of the new processes."

As David Ragan's car went through tech on Wednesday, crew chief Jimmy Fennig was in the middle as 20 officials and team members stood on the scaffolding-like structure getting an up-close view of the process. Crew members from other teams were peeking to get a look, as well.

Darby said NASCAR officials will begin inspection a day early when these teams return to Bristol for the COT debut later this month.

"It's going to be like that at first," said Greg Zipadelli, crew chief for Tony Stewart. "I mean, we all said that when they came out with the other templates they had. There will be some growing pains as everybody tries to learn and to understand what they're telling us, what they want."

Teaching is exactly what NASCAR officials are trying to do.

"We're taking the time to walk all the way from A through Z through the entire template process," Darby said. "Actually, it's educational for our own officials as much as the teams, but we're letting the two groups work together to troubleshoot the system."

Nemechek said he's more concerned with the other side of the coin.

"What's going to be interesting is to see after you go out and run 50 laps and bring it back over here to see if it's going to fit," Nemechek said. "Because these cars twist and if you just bump one thing, then the whole [template] doesn't fit. If you bump something, then you won't be racing it because it won't fit the template. So I don't know."

Darby does.

He said NASCAR plans to take two cars from each COT race this year back to the Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C., to put them through a post-race inspection as a way to learn and adjust the procedures.

The cars will be returned to the teams likely within a day, Darby said.

"Obviously racecars twist and bend and move in a normal function of 500 laps or 500 miles," Darby said. "Part of what we're looking for and to understand is the amount of that movement and how much they return back to neutral, if you will, just through normal wear and tear, which helps us apply the tolerances to the certification program."

Darby said at least one team did just that at Bristol, running the car through inspection before hitting the track early Wednesday morning and then returning again Thursday morning after having track time to get an idea of how the 36-degree banking affected the car.

"One of those cars that went through the inspection process early [Wednesday] and returned again [Thursday] just to understand that, and they all looked pretty good," Darby said. "So that's a comfortable feeling."

Although it didn't pass inspection, Vickers said his car was the only COT Team Red Bull had in its shop that was close to passing tech.

Of the cars that went through inspection, all of them failed.

"For some reason what they're interpreting is not getting back to the teams the proper way," Baldwin said. "It's a learning process for everybody."