Ryan Newman tested a Penske Racing South Dodge Car of Tomorrow earlier this week on the new 7/8-mile oval at Iowa Speedway.

The COT is a five-year project to develop a new stock car design that NASCAR says will be safer and less costly for teams to build and race at a variety of tracks. The new cars will be phased in over the next three years, with 16 races set for next year, beginning at Bristol in March.

‘This is a sister track, I guess you would say, to Richmond, and that will be one of the first tracks we hit next year with the Car of Tomorrow,’ Newman said. ‘So, it’s just a good way to get started with some of the testing process.’

Newman said the car is not drastically different from current cars and believes some of the hype over safety features are exaggerated.

‘If it’s a better change in safety then it’s worth it, but it’s not all that it’s made out to be at this point,’ he said.

‘It does have some different aerodynamic characteristics and some things that we’re going to have to get used to because of the hole that it punches in the air compared to what we have now,’ Newman added. ‘It’s a bigger hole, which I think is going to make racing a little more difficult.’

AP via Thatsracin

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