Some drivers find COT car switching to be a challenge

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Clint Bowyer got out of his Cup car following Saturday morning's practice, debriefed with his crew and then swiftly walked across the concrete to his No. 07 hauler. He was smiling.

The smile didn't necessarily reflect his practice speeds, as he was 12th on the chart. It didn't reflect his starting position for Sunday's Samsung 500, which is eighth due to his position in owner points.

The smile was because he didn't have to jump between two different styles of racecars this week.

"I can tell you at Bristol you didn't want to get out of the Busch car, I can promise you that, knowing that you had to get into that Cup car the next day," Bowyer said of the weekend debut of the Car of Tomorrow three weeks ago.

Bowyer was one of 20 drivers who pulled double duty in the Busch and Cup cars during the Bristol weekend, all while changing between the traditional racecar the Busch Series runs back to the COT. It was a constant flip-flop between Friday's practices and Cup qualifying and Saturday's practices and Busch race.

This weekend, however, it's back to the basics as the Nextel Cup Series is racing the traditional car for a one-week appearance. Next week the COT returns at Phoenix. Two weeks later it's the superspeedway cars at Talladega. Then it's back-to-back COT races at Richmond and Darlington before the All-Star weekend.

The merry-go-round of switching racecars comes across as a difficult thing for drivers. And for some it is.

"I haven't been in this kind of car since Atlanta," Kasey Kahne said of the regular machines. "We've been testing the COT. We've been racing the COT. We've been testing the COT again. And now we're back in this. It's different."

"It is but it isn't," Bowyer said of the challenges of changing machines. "It seems the first two tracks we took the Impala SS to are so unique on their own that having a totally different car doesn't matter anyway. It always seems like at first you think 'what are they thinking' but after you get it done, maybe that wasn't such a bad idea."

Easing into the COT over a three-year span was something that took a lot of criticism when it was first introduced. (Continued)