Nationwide new car will be a show, but at what cost?

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Two days of Nationwide new-car testing at Daytona International Speedway this week was perfect window dressing for what's to come as the rollout of this groundbreaking NASCAR race vehicle continues on schedule.

The only problem with this -- or any perfectly dressed window -- is you've got to work extremely hard to keep the cobwebs and dust mites tidied up in the background as its debut race, the Subway Jalapeno 250 on July 2 at Daytona, gets closer.

Test patterns

The Nationwide Series got its most definitive look yet at its new car during a two-day test at Daytona.

• A typical test day
• 'Loose' is the word
• Sound Off: New car

For starters, these Nationwide new cars look pretty good. Having said that, it isn't that the Sprint Cup versions of these safety enhanced race cars look like crap -- they just look kind of generic.

The Nationwide new cars' signatures -- everything forward of the windshield -- really give the public something they can identify with as the Nationwide versions of the former "COT" really resemble the production versions of the cars.

Of course, the pinhead element has jumped up and said that's all that resembles a production car -- but it's easy to argue that that's all you need to identify them. Stock cars haven't had much in the way of any stock parts for a good long time, so get over it.

But it's nice that some effort's been made to get them back to the point that Joe or Mary Fan can carry some pride over the fact that the vehicle they drove into the speedway -- or a close approximation of it -- now is sitting in Victory Lane as they leave.

Now, the "dirt" on this car is no different than what NASCAR and its fans have been seeing in every division of the sport, for what seems like forever.

If its basket of goals included increased safety, cost containment, competition and leveling the playing field, well, two out of four is probably not a bad starting point.

Safety should be at the top of any list and this style of car's track record already has been proven. Trevor Bayne, who's a medium-sized guy, had his Diamond-Waltrip Racing Toyota Camry catch fire -- seriously go ablaze -- Tuesday and he got out quickly on pit road and said the new car's more spacious design was probably responsible.

Mike Wallace, who's not oversize but is a fair bit bigger than Bayne, said the interior of his JD Motorsports Chevrolet Impala was as spacious as a Camping World Truck, and that he could see out the windshield, and most critically out the windshield while looking across the corners of the speedway, much better. (Continued)