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.

"I think the formula NASCAR had -- in walking us into the Car of Tomorrow -- is correct instead of wiping the slate clean and starting with just the Car of Tomorrow," Jeff Burton said. "The negative is that we're going to go back and forth from one car to the other throughout the year. That's a challenge for us as teams to overcome.

"Keep this in mind too: Bristol and Martinsville are completely different from Texas. So when I walked in the gate I didn't say, 'You're in the old-style car and you need to drive it this way.' I was thinking, 'You're at Texas Motor Speedway, this is what you need to accomplish.'"

The machine is scheduled to appear in 14 more races this season, 26 races in 2008 and all 36 in 2009. How firm that schedule is, however, has been up for debate.

"Now that we've gone ahead and we're racing the Car of Tomorrow, if that's the direction we're headed in and NASCAR is happy with it, I'd like to see us do more of it," said Jeff Gordon, who has been critical of the COT.

Success, however, could have changed his mind. At Bristol, Gordon finished third behind teammate Kyle Busch and Burton. At Martinsville, Gordon bumped teammate Jimmie Johnson until the checkered flag eventually settling for second.

On Saturday in the regular cars, when Cup drivers finally got a normal practice despite overcast skies, Gordon was 26th in the morning session and 28th in the final practice. Of course, Texas is one of three tracks at which Gordon has never won.

If those practice results transfer into Sunday's Samsung 500, Gordon may be an even bigger proponent of speeding up the COT's gradual schedule.

"The uniqueness about [the COT] is that it's a little bit different from a driver's standpoint," Gordon said, "but mainly different for the team in the setup and preparation and the whole inspection process and everything."

Team owners won't argue.

"I think it's harder than they're willing to admit because it's so completely different," Ray Evernham said of his crew members. "[The COT is] a different car, it acts differently, it drives differently, different parts, you don't set it up the same way. It's got to confuse them there. They're really hammer-down trying to get to the racetrack anyway, and then you've got a mindset one way and you have to change. It's got to be hard."

But for the men who make both machines go fast, there's still one primary job.

"I'm not really paying much attention to what car I'm driving; I'm just trying to make it go around the track as fast as I can," Burton said. "And I think that's probably what everybody's doing."