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The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) announced today that the Car of Tomorrow will be fully implemented for the 2008 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series season.
The move accelerates the integration of the new car into the series by one full year. In January 2006, NASCAR had announced a three-year roll-out schedule that would conclude with the new car running in every race by 2009.
As the new car began its initial phase-in program over the past several months, team owners expressed support of the new car and its full implementation by the 2008 season. Therefore, starting next year the new car will run the entire NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series schedule.
“We are proud of how the new car has performed at multiple tracks, ” said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR’s Vice President of Competition. “NASCAR, with the support of team owners, agreed that the new car is ready to compete at all NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series events in 2008. Beginning next year the Car of Tomorrow is officially ”the car”, a Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford and Toyota, ” said Pemberton.
The original transition program had the new car running 16 races in 2007; 26 races in 2008; and the entire schedule in 2009. So far this season, the new car has run five times – at Bristol, Martinsville, Phoenix, Richmond and Darlington – with the races featuring close competition on the track and the safety and durability features of the car well-demonstrated.
The average margin of victory through the first five Car of Tomorrow races has been a mere. 505 seconds (compared to 1.286 seconds at these same races a year ago) and there have been six fewer DNFs through this same race sequence from 2006. Additionally, 13 teams have used the same chassis for three of the five races; four teams have run the same chassis in four of the five races; and one team – the No. 29 Chevrolet – has run the same chassis in all five Car of Tomorrow races.
NASCAR’s Car of Tomorrow is the culmination of a seven-year project undertaken at NASCAR’s Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C. The new car was built primarily with safety in mind, but during the development process, NASCAR also discovered ways in which the car could improve competition and enable teams to be more cost-efficient.
The Car of Tomorrow design has also enabled manufacturers to have an increased product and branding opportunity. The manufacturers’ 2007 Car of Tomorrow models – the Chevrolet Impala SS, Dodge Avenger, Ford Fusion and Toyota Camry – more closely resemble production cars than the former race car did.
