Speed’s Bob Dillner reported on Speed’s Preseason Thunder report Monday night that Penske Racing is bringing two COT’s [Car of Tomorrow] to Daytona and will test them on the track Tuesday or Wednesday with #2-Kurt Busch and #12-Ryan Newman. AND Kurt Busch says his #2-Miller Lite Dodge team will surprise everyone on Wednesday at Daytona when they shake down their superspeedway version of the Car of Tomorrow [COT]. Busch says It’s just matter of us wanting to get ahead of the game and set the curve and raise the bar for people that are thinking they have their Car of Tomorrow scienced out while we’ve got ours here ready to go for a speedway test.” Meanwhile, while the acronym COT for the Car of Tomorrow has been widely used, some have felt the need to create initials for the current racecars. In the spirit of fun, Busch revealed his Miller Lite Dodge team has come up with several including CORN meaning the Car of Right Now and COY is the Car of Yesterday. Busch said, We’ve got a bunch of engineers in the back with way too much time on their hands I guess. Or they’re just working so hard they’ve got to curse the car somehow.(PRN’s Garage Pass Radio Show)(1-16-2007) UPDATE: Penske Racing South drivers worked on a variety of gear and restrictor-plate combinations as they tested a “car of tomorrow” Wednesday during Nextel Cup practice at Daytona International Speedway. Both #12-Ryan Newman and #2-Kurt Busch took turns in the car, which won’t be used on a restrictor-plate track until the October race at Talladega Superspeedway. Busch turned a top lap of 191.188 mph in a single-car run with a 1 1/8th-inch restrictor plate. The team went as low as a 15/16ths-inch restrictor plate. The current version car uses a 7/8ths-inch restrictor plate. Newman said the test proved that NASCAR couldn’t run these cars without restrictor plates.(SceneDaily.com)(1-18-2007)
