Inspection process for COT slow and tedious

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- It's 7:58 a.m. at Bristol Motor Speedway, where the No. 83 Toyota of Team Red Bull sits with its front two tires at the edge of the ramp to pull onto NASCAR's new inspection station for the Car of Tomorrow. Bill Davis Racing's No. 22 sits directly behind it. Both are waiting on the No. 96 to be finished.

At 8:20, the 96 car is pushed away and the Red Bull crew moves its machine onto the inspection bay, where a one-piece template has replaced the multiple pieces that traditionally measure the car's body and angles. It then becomes a chain reaction:

Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images

• The 96 Chevrolet is pushed into the second inspection bay, where it goes through the rigors of nose templates and deck-lid measurements
• Team Red Bull's crew pushes its Toyota up the ramp and onto the platform where the majority of template-checking begins.
• Bill Davis Racing's No. 22 crew moves its Toyota to next in line.

By 8:40, Team Red Bull moves to the second station while BDR's crew climbs onto the first.

By 8:59, the Red Bull crew makes a quick stop at a third station and then pushes Brian Vickers' car through the garage and back to the team's pit stall.

At 9:21, the No. 22 crew makes it back to its stall, with the team's director of competition, Tommy Baldwin Jr., clinching a notepad full of changes that need to be made.

Welcome to the new inspection process for NASCAR.

"I've only seen one car go through this thing and it's been a half-hour," said Joe Nemechek, who stood by to watch the day-long list of cars go through the process during Day 1 of the Car of Tomorrow test at BMS. "It's going to be interesting."

Instead of multiple slim pieces of metal that slap down on each manufacturer's body type, now one large shell mechanically drops onto the top of the machine as NASCAR officials secure it properly to the frame.

One official measures the distance between the rear wheel and the bumper. Another places a template in the wheel well to check it. No less than three officials scan the car bumper to bumper with tape measures and devices to check for gaps between the template and the sheet metal.

"The value of being here and working with the teams on the process is to help everyone understand the issues," said Nextel Cup Series director John Darby, "and to expedite the process when we come back.

"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."