Click Here To Find Cool Nascar Items!

Since it’s inception in 2007 the COT has been under constant scorn and frequent celebration. Its advancements in safety have likely kept more than one driver from serious injury, but it’s generic and brick like facade has left a lot to be desired (some have even suggested that it’s… ugly).

While there aren’t any huge changes coming to the COT for next season, the splitter is getting a facelift. In other words, bye-bye braces. I noticed on Jayski today some of the first images of the new car.

Much like its Nationwide Series cousin, the Cup Series COT is getting a molded front splitter treatment that looks, well, more cohesive. I think it gives the car more personality, if only just a little. At the very least, it’s a start.

With the introduction of the Nationwide COT to rave reviews last season, it was apparent NASCAR needed to act, and act quickly to improve the looks of the Cup car. Though the two sit on the same chassis, the skin deep differences are huge. Take for instance Dodge and Ford who both chose to utilize their pony cars. With a little bit of work to the noses and some stickers to simulate body lines, they really look like very close to the production vehicles that they’re modeled after. Even the Chevrolet and Toyota aren’t bad representations of their street legal brethren.

With those design differences NASCAR was able to actually create four distinct cars – something the Cup Series is all but devoid of beyond the nose.

Certainly the improvement of the splitter (in the looks department) isn’t going to make that big of a difference. But this, like the spoiler, is one step in the continued evolution of a race car. I know many of you aren’t fans of the current car, but eventually, hopefully, baby steps will bring us to a point that the looks of the race car are really not at the forefront of everyones mind.

So what do you think about the splitter? Improvement? Do you like the looks of it? Do you care? What part of the COT do you want NASCAR to focus on next? Talk amongst yourselves!

TheNASCARInsiders.com

Follow the Insiders on Twitter or be a fan on Facebook!

Click Here To Find Cool Nascar Items!

To use the words of the late David Poole, Dale Earnhardt saved Elliott Sadler’s life on Sunday.

What happened to Elliott Sadler on the backstretch (between turns one and two) late in the race at Pocono isn’t exactly clear to those of us who didn’t happen to be in a car and on the backstretch at the time (thanks Kurt Busch and ESPN). What we do know though is Pocono needs to make safety upgrades, like yesterday, and the COT and HANS Device saved Elliott Sadler from serious injury or death.

From what I saw of that wreck, it was one of the worst in recent memory. After hitting the inside Armco barrier, Sadler was propelled back out onto the track – a distance that’s probably a good 50 feet. In the slow motion replay on ESPN, Sadler’s whole body can be seen lurching forward. That tremendous amount of force ripped the car apart. See the engine being towed back to the garage. Sadler was luckily able to walk away with nothing but the wind knocked out of him.

For all of the criticism its gotten and complaining that’s been done about it, the COT has been a wonderful safety innovation. It has no doubt saved lives. Ask Micheal McDowell. Now ask Elliott Sadler.

Add to that the proliferation of the HANS Device and the SAFER barriers and NASCAR has become a much safer place to compete.

In the days leading up to the race, Pocono President Brandon Igdalsky, grandson of the Drs. Mattioli, addressed plans for some much needed safety features, including SAFER barriers between turns 1 and 2, and 2 and 3, and a much needed catch fence. It’s about time.

Looking around on the net Sunday night some were suggesting Pocono shouldn’t be on the schedule. I couldn’t disagree more. It’s a unique facility with great fans (though two races seven weeks apart is ridiculous). I do think though the track needed to have made these upgrades before other things were done – say for instance a $16 million solar farm.

It’s certainly easy to play Monday morning quarterback on this – but I think anyone who has ever seen the facility can see there are a lot of upgrades that need be done. As usual I digress.

Who knows what would have happened to Sadler had he not had the benefit of the current safety features. I shutter to think. Through all the complaining about ESPN missing the moment (big deal), the biggest story here is what didn’t happen and what we fortunately didn’t see.

What NASCAR has done since February 2001 truly has made the sport safer. There have been no serious injuries and no deaths. And thankfully on Sunday we were able to keep that record intact.

TheNASCARInsiders.com

Follow the Insiders on Twitter or be a fan on Facebook!

Click Here To Find Cool Nascar Items!

Following Sunday’s race in Atlanta the Cup Series will enter its first off week of the season. While there won’t be any racing, teams will still be hard at work preparing for the impending switch over to a spoiler.

The upcoming test at the Charlotte Motor Speedway will be the first chance many of these teams have had to try out the new configuration at a track on the Cup schedule. With limited testing and existing notes and information that will soon become (at least somewhat) out of date could this spoiler become a game changer for the season?

The opinions among the drivers are mixed as we have seen over the last few months. Some say 2010 will be split down the middle, while others think the change won’t make much of a difference.

Thanks to the engineers, and NASCAR and team testing we have some idea what this move will do to the downforce of the car. The real test though will come when we have a full field at a place like Texas or Charlotte.

It’s only been since January that teams have known about this and with time ticking away until NASCAR takes the track with the new spoiler, it’s got to be an interesting time to be an engineer at one of these teams. For some organizations, like Richard Childress Racing, that are just getting back on track with their performance the overwhelming question is, ‘will this throw a wrench into our improvement.’ If you’re over at Hendrick, the question is, ‘are we going to be able to maintain our dominance.’

Despite questions they may be asking about what this means for them, they’re not alone in their uncertainty. As those in charge at NASCAR have noted it will take some time to see how this will change things. What happens if this move has no effect, or things actually gets worse? Without the benefit of a lot of on track testing this is a bit of a craps shoot.

Personally I don’t have a clue what’s going to happen. I believe there will be some effect, but given the talk from all parties involved I don’t necessarily believe the impact will be huge.

Change or no change, I can’t say I’m a fan of making a move like this several races in (though I applaud NASCAR for identifying and remedying a problem in a timely manner). However this plays out, it will no doubt be interesting to see how this testing goes and how well this change is received by drivers and fans alike.

So what do you think? Will the spoiler make a difference in the racing or is all this much ado about nothing?