If everything goes according to plan, an era ended Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The Sharpie 500 won by Matt Kenseth is scheduled to be the final one there using current Nextel Cup cars. Bristol’s March 25 race next year is to be the first using the sport’s “car of tomorrow.”

NASCAR plans to phase in the new version of its racing vehicle over the next three seasons, beginning with 16 races in 2007. Both races at Bristol, Martinsville, Richmond, Phoenix, Dover and New Hampshire, as well as single events at Darlington, Sonoma, Watkins Glen and the fall race at Talladega will use the new wider, taller car.

The new car will feature a splitter in place of front air-dams, designed to send air around the car instead of over its nose. Instead of rear spoilers, the car will have wings mounted on the rear deck lid. The aim is to create a car that works better in the turbulent air in traffic, with hopes that it gives back to drivers more ability to compete side-by-side and to make passes than they have in the aerodynamically slick “bullets” of today.

The new car is certainly different, and many have gone so far as to call it ugly. NASCAR believes it will be safer, with more room in the cockpit for drivers and more safety materials surrounding that compartment.

NASCAR has great time and effort invested in the car of tomorrow, and the teams that will have to build the new cars while phasing out their current fleets will have a lot of money invested as well. Safety enhancements notwithstanding, unless the car pays competitive dividends as well, the project will never be considered a success.

The most recent test came two weeks ago after the Cup race at Michigan, which would be among the 26 races in 2008 that would use the new car.

Charlotte’s Lowe’s Motor Speedway and other intermediate tracks like it would come on line in 2009.

Thatsracin