Sunday’s Subway 500 at Martinsville Speedway marks the 15th event for the Car of Tomorrow – NASCAR’s next-generation race car that will compete fulltime in ’08.
The new car returns to Martinsville, where it ran in only its second event in April. Teams will use the new car in 16 of 36 events in ’07.
A seven-year project of NASCAR’s Research and Development Center, the new car incorporates crucial safety innovations, better competition and cost containment opportunities.
Hendrick Motorsports has won seven of the 14 previous events, including the last time the car competed two weeks ago at Talladega, where Jeff Gordon prevailed.
Teams already have realized one of the new car’s goals – flexibility. The ability to use the same car at multiple (and different) tracks is a key component.
Five teams have used the same chassis in seven of the previous 14 events. And at Talladega – also the car’s restrictor-plate debut – five teams used a car that had raced at one or more of the new car’s previous events.
New Car By The Numbers
Using the same car at different tracks, rather than building track-specific cars, is a major cost-containment plus of NASCAR’s new car. Here’s a quick look at this season’s savings-come-to-life:
• Five teams have used the same chassis in seven of the previous new-car events, to date;
• Four teams have used the same chassis in eight of the previous new-car events, to date;
• Two teams have used the same chassis in nine of the previous new-car events, to date;
• One team has used the same chassis in 10 of the previous new-car events, to date;
• Sunday’s Subway 500 marks the 15th new-car event in ’07. The Nov. 11 event at Phoenix International Raceway is this season’s final new-car event.
| 
|