Drivers to put COT through first road test at Infineon

Nextel Cup Series drivers will be put to the test again this week as the Car of Tomorrow goes road-course racing for the first time.

Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350 (3:30 p.m. ET, TNT) at Infineon Raceway will mark the COTs seventh race of the season, but first away from an oval.

"The original design of the Car of Tomorrow has many characteristics of the current road-course car," said Brett Bodine, NASCAR director of cost research. "Particularly in the fact that both are more symmetric than the oval track current cars."

Having raced in the COT six times previously, drivers are beginning to become accustomed to its characteristics and expect more of the same this week.

"I think they are going to be a challenge to drive," Harvick said. "The forward bite is not as good as the other cars. The cars are also a little slower and hard to handle."

Tony Stewart felt very much the same way after testing the COT on the road course at Virginia International Raceway.

"Well, it crashes the same. I went off track twice and tore up a lot of stuff," Stewart said. "It's just slower. It doesn't drive as well, obviously. It's been top-heavy everywhere we've been, so we're kind of used to it. It'll be the same on a road course."

Much talk has been made of the front-end splitter, one of the defining characteristics of the COT.

"I think the splitter is not as big of an issue as we believed it would be. The splitter has proven to be an extremely durable piece of material," Jeff Burton said. "I could be proven wrong but when we tested at VIR last month, the curves were pretty aggressive, and I don't think it's going to be that big of an issue. Certainly it's potentially an issue but I don't think the splitter is going to be that big of an issue in and of itself."

With that said, Burton warned:

"It's a lower grip car and it doesn't make as much grip as the cars we are running today and on a road course, it will make a big difference. They're heavier and the CG [center of gravity] is higher. There are a lot of things that work against the car driving well and that will show up on a road course."

Jimmie Johnson isn't as concerned with the COT as much as the tires they'll be racing on.

"The things that are going on with this car I think will lead to more tire give-up and more tire fall-off, which will make Infineon more challenging than it has been in the past," Johnson said.

NASCAR was hoping to level the playing field, so to speak, with the COT. With road-course testing limited to VIR, Infineon could do just that.

"It's going to be a guessing game for a lot of people," Bobby Labonte said. "I don't know if anyone has a huge head start with the new car on a road course. There are teams out there that have tested on the ovals a lot, but we haven't heard much about the road courses.

"We have seen some teams really get a handle on the new car on the ovals. We aren't that far behind. We have had good runs with the car and feel good about it. There just isn't that much information about road courses."

Early results of the COT have proven that the drivers who have ran well in the current car also have been successful in the new one. Johnson and Jeff Gordon each have four wins this season, and they have been split evenly between the COT and the current car.

Because of that, Harvick thinks the drivers who generally race well at Infineon might have the advantage.

I think you will really see the good road-course drivers shine this year at Sonoma," he said.