Earnhardt not good enough to drive COT
NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Director John Darby says that's how it's supposed to be.
He has heard drivers talk about the cars being more difficult to turn since the start of testing with the new car. But drivers will learn.
"There should be a level of frustration – obviously different levels," Darby said Monday during a break in testing at Lowe's Motor Speedway. "I would imagine anybody yesterday other than [Richmond winner] Jimmie Johnson had a concern or a frustration at some point because that's the way our sport works.
"Frustration to the point where we're going to change anything going forward, probably not."
In addressing car of tomorrow competition issues, Darby said he is not concerned about the dominance of Hendrick Motorsports (four wins) and Chevrolet (which has led all but 63 of the 1,716 laps in COT events).
"I don't think we've ever seen that many laps with that many competitors running side-by-side," Darby said about the car of tomorrow. "The great thing about this garage area is there are no secrets and if somebody has got one, it won't last long.
"It's been that way for 58 years. Somebody may have an early lead in the deal. Essentially what it does is make the other teams work harder. It will catch up." Scenedaily.com
05/08/07 A jovial, if not laissez-faire Dale Earnhardt Jr. stood outside the No. 8 transporter Monday afternoon at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Washington Redskins fitted cap flipped around backward, signature sunglasses shading his eyes, red beard masking his face.
Amid a throng of tape recorders and television cameras, he waxed current on NASCAR's hottest topics.
Not a fan of the COT, huh? Should we run it full time next year? You gonna leave Chevy? Are you the voice of the garage? And of course, the inevitable: What's up with the contract?
He answered most everything, pausing often to collect his thoughts before speaking.
He's not much into the notion that Hendrick Motorsports is unbeatable. And he's not big on the Car of Tomorrow at present, said it won't turn through the corner worth a damn and that it's all but driving him crazy.
In fact, he said it's the most frustrating thing he's ever had to deal with in his racing life.
That's not to say he'd do away with it, mind you. He knows it's a safer car, and if he had his druthers, he'd run the thing full time already.
"I don't like doing two different kind of cars — it's [got to be] one or the other," said Earnhardt, on hand to test a pair of No. 8 Chevrolets for the All-Star Challenge and the Coca-Cola 600. "I'd go full time with the COT right now. Why not? We're all pretty frustrated with it and struggling with it.
"We may as well get as much time in it as we can get — week in, week out — even if it drives us all crazy." More at ESPN.com
[Editor's Note: Inside racing circles Earnhardt Jr. is a mediocre driver at best. Yet he is their biggest star (sort of like Danica Patrick in the IRL – all show and no go) riding on the coattails of his famous father. Funny how he can't get the COT to turn yet the better Hendrick Motorsport drivers are using their talent to drive around the problem and beat drivers of Earnhardt's skill-level on a regular basis.]