Cars of Tomorrow take hits and keep rolling
Durability means wrecks no longer always relegate drivers to the garage
 Rusty Jarrett / Getty Images for NASCAR Despite suffering a big hit in the Sharpie 500, Kurt Busch's durable Car of Tomorrow ride helped him continue racing and salvage a top-10 finish. |
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The Cars of Tomorrow have taken hit after hit after hit in the garages and in the media since they were introduced into Sprint Cup a couple years back at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The hits have come in the form of criticism of everything from the way they handle to the way they look.
They have been slammed by the purists who think that the fact that Sprint Cup cars are designed by the series which sanctions them is an absolute abomination.
Team owners have bashed them for their costs. Fans bash them because bashing is one of the many functions of being a fan.
And drivers? Just last week, Dale Earnhardt Jr. hammered them to members of the media, saying they needed to be changed radically and changed soon.
But perhaps the biggest thumping the COTs have been taking has nothing to do with bad news. It’s the thumping the cars take on race day -- and virtually nobody is complaining about this thumping.
The dang cars can take a beating and keep on racing. They are so solid that sizable hits barely slow them down. Fender-benders are no longer dream-enders.
That fact was never more clear than at Bristol Motor Speedway for Saturday night’s Sharpie 500. Cars that wrecked (and you just automatically assumed were headed to the garages and then to scrap) were suddenly back on track and actually gaining ground on the leaders.
The most amazing manifestation of that involved Kurt Busch.
Running well and near the front and perhaps toward a victory, Busch was involved in a wreck that surely would have sent a car of yesterday to the garages for good. In the process, it would have dealt a major, major blow to Busch’s Chase bid and chances to win a second Cup championship.
It occurred about 60 laps from the end of the 500-lap race. It occurred the way lots of wrecks occur at Bristol. Busch was running in a pack of cars and somebody got stupid or greedy and got too close to somebody else.
At the epicenter of the wreck, Brian Vickers tapped Sam Hornish Jr. from behind and Hornish ran into Casey Mears. Mears then ran into Busch, whose car went sideways. Busch’s car then slid down onto the apron and hit Vickers.
Busch snapped his car back into a moving-forward position but got side-swiped by Hornish just as he did.
Nothing odd in all of that. Biz as usual at Bristol.
The impressive thing was that Busch’s car was still able to keep racing.
Busch not only ended the race on the lead lap, he also pulled out a seventh-place finish. He did not only not plummet to the bottom of the Chase standings, he maintained his No. 6 place in points.
Credit the COT. The dang things are tanks. They are not only hyper safe for the drivers, they are rolling when they should be being towed.
You got to like that. It adds to the drama.
Next time you’re at the track, give a COT a hug. Gosh knows they can use them these days.
Jim Pedley is managing editor of Racin’ Today. Read more NASCAR news at racintoday.com.
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