All of the bugs have yet to be worked out of the Sprint Cup Series Car of Tomorrow, but that did not stop NASCAR from getting a jump on the future of racing in the Nationwide Series. Last week at Richmond International Raceway, racing teams, engineers and drivers from NASCAR conducted their first on-track tests of the Nationwide CoT with hopes that it will be used in competition as early as next August.

  Chevy, Dodge, Ford and Toyota were all present at RIR in the form of Richard Childress Racing, Chip Ganassi Racing, Roush Racing and Michael Waltrip Racing, all of whom stayed in town for a few extra days following race day to put the new car through its paces.

  The presiding theme of the Nationwide CoT is versatility. Joe Balash, NASCAR Nationwide Series Director. indicated the drawing board plans have NASCAR, drivers and race teams looking towards an affordable changeover to a car that can be adapted to run on a variety of track styles without substantial alterations in setup. “A lot of the cost when you changeover is based on the number of cars you want to build to the specifics of individual race tracks,” he said “So as we talk about what the goal of being able to run the car on multiple tracks without having all of those individualized differences, that cuts down on some of the costs.”

  Robin Pemberton, NASCAR Vice President of Competition, said the Nationwide CoT will utilize virtually the same chassis set up as the current Cup CoT. “It’s 100 percent of the safety features of the Cup car and it’s probably about 85-90 percent of the suspension stuff,” he said. The main difference is the Nationwide version will run conventional spring setup opposed to the bump-stops of the Cup car. 

  To make the conversion to the new car as simple as possible for teams the new Nationwide car can be built from the current Cup cars providing recycling possibilities for teams with smaller budgets. “That’s the whole idea of the process,” said Brett Bodine, NASCAR Director of Cost Research. “It’s the same exact chassis. It goes through the same certification at the (Research and Design) Center. The windshield, the A-post, the roof and the roof flaps are exactly in the same location, the same parts and pieces as the Cup car.

  “It is all about the whole process of moving from the Cup Series, used cars, down into the Nationwide Series,” Bodine said. “Some teams build new cars, some teams don’t build new cars. They live off used parts in the industry, so that opportunity still exists for everybody.”

  As far as exterior, the CoT has a more contoured nose compared to the wedge formation of the current Nationwide car. Likewise, the new car will have a rear spoiler on the trunk lid rather than the current wing on the Cup cars.

  According to Balash, the drive train on the new car will be virtually the same as the present Nationwide cars therefore providing another avenue for teams to cut changeover costs. “The engine package is the same, transmissions, rear gears, all of those will transfer over,” he said. “There may be some things with the lower A-frames and those things that would need to be custom for the car for its new configuration.”

  However, Bodine pointed out that the body and chassis components from the current car will not transfer over. “It’s a completely different chassis and body setup,” he said.

  The idea behind the change-over is to make the Cup and Nationwide Series cars as similar as possible while retaining a clear-cut difference for each. “We will do everything we can to keep the cars driving a little bit different and being distinct,” Pemberton said.

  While Cup drivers will still be welcome to compete in the Nationwide series, the plan is to make those drivers show some dedication to the circuit rather than take advantage of what they have learned from their Cup cars. Such knowledge will not give them an edge with the Nationwide CoT.

  “You’re not going to come from the Cup garage, like in years past where you bring your four springs and your four shocks and you set them down in a Nationwide car and you go off and dominate a race,” Pemberton said. “These cars, we will maintain a separate set of rules for their suspension and stuff so guys in one garage can’t take everything they learn and walk it over to the next garage over and gain an advantage that way.”

  As far as body styling, the Ford Fusion is the only model that has been determined at this point. Toyota, Chevy and Dodge have yet to designate which model they will use for the CoT. “We’re still working down the path of certifying bodies for the cars for the Nationwide Series,” Balash said indicating that wind tunnel tests still need to be conducted by some manufacturers. “We set some targets that we wanted such as down-force and drag and the way the first iteration of their noses came out, they were outside those targets so they have to revisit them to get within the targets we’ve set.”

  From a driver standpoint, David Ragan said on the track he could tell little difference between the Nationwide CoT and the current car. “I think it’s probably a good enough car to be fun and be fast and not be the same as our current style Cup car, so I think it’s a pretty good combination.”

  Teammate Carl Edwards displayed excitement over the new car. “So far our Ford Fusion’s been pretty good,” he said. “I think it looks pretty good too. I hadn’t seen the car all finished and sitting on the ground.”

  According to Edwards, NASCAR is further along in the development process for the Nationwide CoT than they were at the same point in time with the Cup version. “I think that’s reflective in how well it drives,” he said. “This chassis and setups have been developed for the last year and that makes this transition easier than the first one.”

  While the spacer in the Nationwide car limits horsepower, Edwards said the result is better handling. “Anytime you have less horsepower it makes the car more straight forward to drive,” he said. “There’s not as much that variable gets taken away.”

  Yet, Edwards would personally like to see the car have more power. “I like more horsepower,” he said. “That appeals to me. Hopefully we get to work back towards that, but for now the car’s real easy to drive and it drives really nice.”

  As far as Ragan’s preferences, he does not care one way or other about moving to the new car. “I know it costs the teams a lot of money,” he said. “I’d just as soon leave well enough alone but I‘m not one of those guys that make the decisions. We’ll leave that to NASCAR. They usually make the right decisions. They’re looking at the future. We’ll have to as that question 10 years form now and see if it was the right change.”