Johnny Benson

On Sunday at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway the Car of Tomorrow gets its first run on a banked intermediate track in what should be a battle for Victory Lane between Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing.

Those two organizations are out in front when it comes to having success with the COT and Hendrick Motorsports has won all four COT races this season.

Look for it to go five-for-five in COT events as Jeff Gordon rates a slight edge over the other top contenders.

Working in Gordon's favor
Gordon is a six-time winner at Darlington. The most recent of those wins came in September of 2002. Gordon had a truly dominant stretch at this egg-shaped 1.366-mile oval when he won five of seven races from 1995-98.

To go with his six victories he has three poles, 14 top-fives, and 17 top-10s. He has led 1,558 laps in 26 Cup starts at the track called “Too Tough To Tame,” and “The Lady in Black.” The four-time Cup champion is the active leader in wins and laps led at Darlington.

Gordon is on top in points and he will be looking for his eighth top-five result in his last nine races. He'll also be shooting for his third win of the year, which would give him one more victory than he had in 2006 when he made the Chase for the Nextel Cup and wound up sixth in the standings.

Initially Gordon wasn't a fan of the COT, but he is no longer critical of it. In fact, he's come around to running it very well. In four COT races, he has three poles and finishes of first (Phoenix), second (Martinsville), third (Bristol), and fourth (Richmond).

Over the last three years the No. 24 Chevrolet has been terrific at Darlington with a third-place result and two runner-up finishes. The switch to the COT should not end that excellence given the extensive testing and data gathering done on the COT by Hendrick Motorsports.

Other drivers to watch
Let's start with Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch, two of Gordon's teammates at Hendrick Motorsports. Johnson pulled off a sweep at Darlington in 2003 when the track hosted two Cup events (in 2005 it was cut back to one Cup race).

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Johnson, who led for 81 laps in this event last year, will be making his ninth Cup start at Darlington, and impressively he has four top-fives, and seven top-10s. The defending Cup champion is second in points and is seeking his fifth top-five and third win in his last six races.

Kyle Busch has been a force in the COT. He picked up a win at Bristol, followed by a fourth-place finish at Martinsville, and a seventh-place result at Phoenix. Last week at Richmond Busch turned in a runner-up performance so his average COT finish is 3.5.

In this event last year Busch started and finished seventh. He's had success at Darlington in the Busch Series, and his Cup team should give him a car on Saturday night that will put him in the hunt for a win.

From Joe Gibbs Racing a Darlington winner could emerge from Denny Hamlin or Tony Stewart. Hamlin, who is fourth in points, has benefited from a tremendous job by his crew chief Mike Ford. The 2006 Rookie of the Year has four top-fives and five top-10s this season. He's raced just once at Darlington, but did so in impressive fashion, starting fifth and finishing 10th last May.

Hamlin's a smooth, cautious driver and with as good as his program is going his inexperience at Darlington won't hinder his chances at a win. The Chesterfield Va. native displays the maturity of a veteran Cup competitor.

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Stewart likes racing at Darlington, but his history there shows only moderate success -- seven top-10s in 14 career Cup starts, and a best finish of fourth, which he accomplished twice -- in the spring of 2000, and the fall of 2001.

The two-time defending Cup champion will be in a COT chassis that debuted in March at Bristol, where it qualified fourth and led four times for a race-high 257 laps. A broken fuel pump cable on lap 289 relegated it to finishing 35th.

A lot of eyes will be on Greg Biffle who is attempting to make it three straight wins at Darlington. The only drivers to have accomplished that feat are Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt. In the last two races at Darlington, Biffle has led for 699 of 737 laps, and he's spent only 38 laps running outside the top five.

But Biffle hasn't yet gotten a good handle on the COT. His COT finishes are fifth, 32nd, 17th, and 19th. He hasn't yet led a lap in the COT and Darlington is a tough track at which to try and change that.

Kurt Busch is coming off a couple of top-fives and could post a solid result at Darlington. Busch and his Penske Racing team are making gains and a top-10 or even a top-five result could come their way on Saturday night.

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