On Friday night, the most recently revamped version of the Nationwide car will make its debut at Richmond International Raceway. It will be the third time the new car has seen competition this season but the first on a short track after races at Daytona and Michigan.

However, Thursday’s practice was not the first time the new car was driven at RIR. The new Nationwide car conducted its first testing at the track in September of 2008.

NASCAR Nationwide Series director Joe Balash pointed out that while many changes have taken place since that time few were major alterations were made in the cars set up.

“The chassis were really pretty much the same chassis,” Balash said. “The overall NASCAR garage area has evolved the chassis father than it was a few years ago. The teams have taken a lot of weight out of the cars which allows them to put that weight into the ballast in low and left, which helps the car turn.

“Our engine rules are pretty much the same,” Balash said. “We’ve made some adjustments with the tapered spacers that are on the engine. We’ve tweaked some of those. The other stuff’s just been minor tweaks here and there.”

Another change came in the rear spoiler. “We’ve allowed the teams to have the adjustable ears that are on the spoiler,” Balash said. “I think everybody here is running max down force. I think they’re all running the two inch tall ears on the spoiler.”

After morning testing, the drivers felt progress had been made with adapting the new car to the RIR track.

“Pretty happy with the way the car is balanced,” said Paul Menard, driver of the Richmond/Menards Ford. “Definitely a lack of grip compared to the old car but that’s fine, everybody’s in the same boat. The car’s are pretty fun to drive. There’s not a whole lot different than the old cars. Kind of a cross between the old cell Nationwide car and the Spring COT. At lot of things that you used with the old car work with this car as far as how you run your springs and stuff.

“One kind of disadvantage is we can’t run a rear bar anymore, which these high roll centers and centers of gravity makes it tough to get the car turned as well as the old car but something that we’re working through.”

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 33 Armor Chevrolet agreed. “I think everyone knew we were going to fight tight because of the rear bar thing,” he said. “But other than that I think the car’s a lot of fun to drive and I think it will race good. I think it’s going to fall off a substantial amount as we go through the race, which I think is good because you can see cars come and go.”

Like the Sprint Cup COT, the cockpit in t he new Nationwide car is more spacious, which the drivers enjoy.

“I just like sitting in them to tell the truth,” Harvick said. “It’s nice not having your head sitting against the roll bar. It’s nice to have room inside the race car. To me that’s’ the best thing about what we’re doing. We can squabble about handling and things like that but in the end it’s a great car to sit in.”

But one of the greatest changes in the new Nationwide car is the exterior aesthetics, which more closely resemble their street car counterparts.

“It looks cool from the outside and you have the manufactures all represented,” Harvick said. “Everything about it is cool.”

But is being behind the wheel of a nice looking car important to the drivers?

“I think it matters,” Harvick said. “Nobody wants to drive a ugly car. It’s just when you have something that the fans like and you like and everybody seems to agree with you that they kind of look cool. I mean, it matters for sure just for the fact that if nobody likes looking at them it’s hard to watch them.”

Harvick also likes the fact that the cars have their own identity, looking like Mustangs, Camrys or Challengers.

“I think it helps the manufactures justify their spending in the sport,” Harvick said. “When the fans say, I can tell that’s a Dodge because it looks like the Dodge in the show room, those things help all of us when the differences can be seen between the cars.
“It goes right back to the same thing,” Harvick added. “Well, the Ford’s faster, the Dodge is faster, the Chevy’s faster, whatever the case may be, the fans like that.”