Six Drivers Test NASCAR’s “Car Of Tomorrow” At AMS

Drivers Carl Edwards, Brian Vickers, Kyle Petty, Jeff Burton, Martin Truex Jr. and Dale Earnhardt Jr., along with NASCAR Special Project Engineer Brett Bodine, yesterday test drove prototypes of the “car of tomorrow” at Atlanta Motor Speedway. In Richmond, Nate Ryan writes the changes “weren’t discernable even on the stopwatch,” and the main differences are “miniscule measurements.” NASCAR VP/Research & Development Gary Nelson said, “We think it’s dramatically going to reduce the cost for a car owner.” But Ryan notes the “short-term expense could be staggering,” and Dale Earnhardt Inc. Exec VP Richie Gilmore said that switching over a Nextel Cup fleet will cost about $3.5M per team. However, team Owner Richard Childress said, “They’re going to help the show tremendously and put on a hell of a lot better race. It’s going to be good for competition” (RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH, 11/1). Nelson said that NASCAR officials studied the Craftsman Truck Series, “which is often lauded as having the most competitive racing of NASCAR’s top three series, and have incorporated some of what they learned” (KNIGHT RIDDER, 11/1). Tony Eury Jr., crew chief for Earnhardt Jr., said the new car is “going to be a lot like having an IROC car. They want to make everything so simple and straight up. I pretty much liked it when you got a couple of guys that can find something and you get ahead” (ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, 11/1). But Nelson said, “There’s plenty of room for innovation” (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 11/1).

NASCAR Drivers Take “Car Of Tomorrow” For Test Drive

OH HENRY: In Winston-Salem, Mike Mulhern wrote NASCAR’s recent proposal to limit Nextel Cup owners to three teams stems from Red Sox Owner John Henry’s decision earlier this season to “invest heavily in Roush Racing.” NASCAR officials “appear ill at ease about the precedent” that such involvement could create. The issue of outside investors “could be the trigger for NASCAR to franchise teams — both to put rules in place on who can own teams and to generate revenue from the sales of franchises.” Mulhern: “Perhaps the real issue for [NASCAR Chair & CEO Brian] France is this — if Henry wants to come play in NASCAR’s sandbox, he ought to have to pay NASCAR for the privilege, instead of merely doing a deal with Roush” (WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL, 10/30).