NASCAR officials won’t rule out the possibility that the “car of tomorrow” might run full time in 2008 instead of another partial Nextel Cup season. With more than 50 Nextel Cup teams testing at Bristol Motor Speedway today in preparation for the new model’s debut in the 2007 race, talk about the difficulty of teams and drivers competing with two models is growing. NASCAR officials have been hearing that for some time, and speculation has been rampant that the series would move up the schedule for running the model in all series races. The car of tomorrow will be used in 16 races this season and is currently slated for 26 of the 36 points races in 2008. “We’re hearing a lot of talk already about it and understandably so,” Nextel Cup Series Director John Darby said of changing to a full schedule with the model in 2008. “It’s difficult to run the two programs. It’s difficult for our side to run two programs knowing what rules apply to what car.” Would the sanctioning body consider making that change? “If the garage says, ‘Look we’re all in,’ we’re all in,” he said.(SceneDaily.com)(2-28-2007)
