Nationwide Series new car debuts at Richmond test

Walking through the garage on Monday at Richmond International Raceway prior to the start of the first official test session for the Nationwide Series' new car, series director Joe Balash was told he looked like a "proud papa."

"This is a new project for the Nationwide Series so there's an unknown until you get [the car] to the racetrack," Balash said. "Now we have it at the track and it's been very well-received."

The four series manufacturers — Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford and Toyota — were represented by five teams. Bryan Clauson was the first driver to take a lap for Dodge and Chip Ganassi Racing.

David Ragan and reigning series champion Carl Edwards for Ford and Roush Fenway Racing; David Reutimann for Toyota; Scott Wimmer for Chevrolet and Richard Childress Racing, the defending series owner champion; and Morgan Shepherd for Davis Motorsports also turned laps throughout the day.

"Going through the garage area and speaking to some of the drivers, the input I got was the car was very good," said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR's vice president of competition. "A couple actually said they wished they could race this new car tomorrow."

Differentiation and uniqueness are the name of the game going forward with the introduction of the new car in the Nationwide Series. The main difference between the current car and the new car will be the chassis and the body. The current chassis has a 105 inch wheel base. The new car will be a 110 inch NASCAR-certified chassis, which is the same as the current Sprint Cup car. This also will allow current Nationwide Series components to be brought forward in an effort to contain costs.

The new car will provide the same safety enhancements that are in place on the current Cup car and will also make more bolt-on parts interchangeable (for example, rear end housing), creating cost savings for the teams. Additionally, the new car will continue to use the rear spoiler whereas the Cup car has a wing.

"We're still walking down the path of certifying the bodies for the cars in the Nationwide Series," Balash said. "The manufacturers haven't made their official announcements yet on what body styles they'll have once we get to the race track."

Cost containment and competitive balance also are keys for the introduction of the new car in the Nationwide Series.

"As we build cars, we want to make sure we don't draw something up on the drawing board that's hard to manufacture," said Brett Bodine, NASCAR's director of cost research. "If that's the case, the cost goes up to produce these cars. As they build these cars — these are the first ones built — we're listening to what they've got to say from their fab shops. This is the kind of interaction from a small group of people like we have here today that helps makes the process a lot more efficient."

"So far we've been pleased," team owner Johnny Davis said. "With more testing, we can be pretty close [to the multi-car teams]. I think a smaller, single-car team under these circumstances can be a better top-10 car than what we have today with our current cars."

The drivers at the test also gave the new car a thumbs-up.

"I'm excited about the car," Wimmer said. "[There are] a lot of real positive things right now. We've been running through the normal things we do at a test and it's responding well."

"The car's been good and it looks pretty cool, too," Edwards said. "I was impressed. I hadn't seen the car before it was sitting on the ground. It drives really well; it feels a lot like the cars we're driving right now. Compared to when we first ran the new car in the Cup Series this is a lot smaller change for us. I'm happy with it."

Tuesday's second day of testing has been re-scheduled for a morning-only session since the data gathered Monday by the manufacturers and teams was sufficient. The threat of rain in the afternoon also was a factor.

The Nationwide Series new car is also set to test Oct. 13-14 at Charlotte.

[via jayski]
Photo Credit: Harrelson Photography, Mike Paz, someone else

This dismal future of fuel efficiency and dangerously silent cities can only be battled with vigilance and your buying dollars. Imagine a world where hippies fall into deep depressions after their banner method of communicating moral superiority becomes commonplace; muscle-car fiends sit on the floors of garages everywhere, weeping into their now-pointless toolboxes. Where you don't drive, your car drives you. The horror... the horror. [Wired]

Roasted testicle jokes aside, the founder, Amory Lovins — stop it — is the applied physicist behind the Colorado think tank and has some interesting things to say about the direction of cars to come. Take a couple of minutes and head over to the Nova website and listen to him talk about the challenges and opportunities for making cars better, stronger, faster, and more efficient. Okay, now you can make jokes about dangley bits. [Nova]

NASCAR officials announced today that the Car of Tomorrow, the zenith of decal engineering, will be the full-bore machine for next season, replacing today's old, inferior Cup cars completely. The phase-in period, which had originally been laid out over three seasons has been accelerated, meaning that every stop on next year's Cup tour will be contested by the new vehicles. Somewhere, deep beneath the Great Pit of Carkoon, the Sarlaac yawned. We swear, we totally heard it. – Davey G. Johnson

Cars of Tomorrow will race next season at all NASCAR tracks [Kansas City Star]

Related:
On A Wing And A Prayer: NASCAR Car of Tomorrow Becomes Car of Today At Bristol [Internal]

[Thanks to Ed Iskenderian himself for the tip]

Haas CNC Machining Magazine [HaasCNC.com]

On A Wing And A Prayer: NASCAR Car of Tomorrow Becomes Car of Today At Bristol; Back to the Past: Zagato Recreates 1938 Lancia Aprilia Sport from Photo [Internal]

Photo By: Rusty Jarrett / Getty Images Sport

Car of Tomorrow debuts today [Freep]

Related:
Welcome To The NASCAR "Car Of Tomorrow-ow-ow"; Sports Illustrated Weighs in on the Car of Tomorrow [internal]

Get your jet fuel and oxidant ready Waltrip, NASCAR is introducing the "Car Of Tomorrow" after five years of testing (it takes a lot of engineering to drive in a circle). Designed to improve safety, performance, competition and cost efficiency for teams, the Car of Tomorrow fits all four current templates (Ford, Toyota, GM and Dodge). The car will make its debut at the Bristol Motor Speedway and will be used at sixteen events on tracks less than a mile and a half in length. One of the features we look forward to most is the deatchable wing! – Matt Hardigree

Car of Tomorrow could fuel future expansion [TSN-CA]

Related:
All of our NASCAR coverage [internal]