Reshaped landscape should be a beauty

By KENNY BRUCE
SPORTING NEWS NASCAR WIRE SERVICE
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Welcome to the reshaped landscape of NASCAR. It's a little early to attach the "new and improved" tagline, but no one can disagree that NASCAR, version 2007, is a greatly different product from the one offered up in previous years.
A new manufacturer, the Japanese auto giant Toyota, is jumping into the fray. Toyota has aligned itself with three organizations featuring seven teams. But can money and engineering expertise result in victories on the racetrack?
NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow is slated to make its debut in March. It's safer and is said to be less aero-dependent, which could create increased competition on the track. But some teams wonder whether using a different car at 16 events will upset the power balance as teams battle to make the Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup.
Funding healthy
Fully funded teams are at an all-time high. As many as 48 are expected to compete for the 43 starting spots in each race. How long will sponsors be willing to foot the bill for teams that fail to make the show?
The Chase II. NASCAR officials have tweaked the format for the 10-race, season-ending playoff by adding two more teams. Total wins, rather than points, will be used to determine the top 12 positions heading into this year's Chase. Consistency may no longer be enough to guarantee a team a seat at the head table in New York.
Seven drivers will start the season with teams they weren't affiliated with at the start of '06. Add six candidates for rookie of the year and a handful of others who are either returning to the series or are with the same organization but a new team, and it's clear that fans will have their hands full trying to sort out where their favorite drivers are.
But the basic formula for what has made the sport a success remains unchanged. For 36 weekends, the green flag will descend, and 43 of the best teams will battle for the win. All the money and mayhem, tweaks and twists can't change that.
All revved up
For the first time since 2001, a new manufacturer is entering NASCAR's Nextel Cup Series. Toyota, which has been running in NASCAR's Craftsman Truck Series since 2004, will step onto the track with three organizations and plenty of determination, if not experience.
Michael Waltrip Racing, which will field cars for Waltrip, Dale Jarrett and rookie David Reutimann, is the largest of the organizations with respect to number of teams. But of the three, only Jarrett is guaranteed a starting spot -- for a maximum of six races -- thanks to his status as a past Cup champion. Waltrip and Reutimann, with no owner points to lean on, will have to race their way into the field at least through the first five races. And that was before NASCAR confiscated Waltrip's No. 55 for rules violations and docked the team 100 owner points, among other severe penalties announced Wednesday.
Team Red Bull, which has Brian Vickers and rookie A.J. Allmendinger, also will look to race its way into the lineup. Vickers, who won his first Cup race last October, is only 23 but has the most Cup experience in the organization. Allmendinger, 25, is coming from Champ Car, where he excelled last year. He is as raw as a rookie gets -- three career starts in the truck series and none in Busch or Cup.
BDR most experienced
Of the three Toyota organizations, Bill Davis Racing has the most experience, but with a different product. After going without manufacturer backing because of a breakup with Dodge, Davis has helped get the Toyota program off the ground by working closely with the Toyota Racing Development group. Hartford native Dave Blaney returns to BDR's No. 22 entry and is locked in to a spot in the field through the first five races, thanks to his top 35 points finish last season. Jeremy Mayfield, who split with Evernham Motorsports last season, returns to the series and will drive BDR's No. 36 Camry.
Despite rumors of unlimited spending and raiding existing teams for talent, Toyota's core group realizes it faces an uphill battle if it hopes to become competitive on the track.
"We understand [what they're up against]," Jarrett said. "This couldn't have been a more difficult and tougher time in this sport to be bringing something like this. Because of the excitement of the sport, there are a lot of car owners involved, sponsors involved, and obviously along with that comes a lot of very good race drivers."
A wing and a prayer
What began as an attempt to produce a safer product on the racetrack has expanded to include an effort to improve competition. NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow, which will make its debut at Bristol Motor Speedway, will be used in 16 races, and though its driver compartment has undergone changes to improve driver safety, it's the outside of the car that has received the most attention.
Adjustable rear wings and front splitters are expected to help teams dial in their cars for optimum performance and encourage a move away from other aerodynamically sensitive areas of the cars. Cleaner air created by the rear wings is expected to encourage more passing.
The driver compartment is now 4 inches wider and more than 2 inches taller, and the driver has been moved closer to the center of the vehicle. Double frame rails are featured on the driver's side with steel plating and energy-absorbing material.
Some team owners have said the Car of Tomorrow will allow them to cut their stables in half, but some drivers still aren't entirely sold on the project.
"We all would like to be just starting out the season in 2008 [with the car] and not run it at all in 2007," four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon said. "You've got new teams coming into this series that are having to build two cars and one that's going to be obsolete next year. ... It's kind of crazy.
"I'm just not a big fan of the way the car looks. Some of that relates to performance, and some of it doesn't. If the car gets on the racetrack and we put on an awesome race, NASCAR is going to look like heroes. But up until that point, it's easy to criticize that car for many reasons."
The numbers game
In 2006, an average of almost six teams failed to qualify for each race. A season-high 15 failed to make the field for the Daytona 500, and the number hit double digits on two more occasions. With as many as 48 teams expected to attempt to run the entire 2007 schedule -- and only 35 guaranteed starting spots through owner points -- it's a given that some highly visible, highly funded teams are going to be heading home early this season. Guaranteeing more spots to more teams, some say, isn't the answer.
"There are 35 teams guaranteed a starting spot, 36 [with the champion's provisional]," said Waltrip, who failed to qualify for four races in '06. "That means there will be seven teams that are going to have to earn their way in. I have two of those teams. Bill Davis, Red Bull Racing, Ginn Racing have teams ... we all want to race."
New face on the Chase
More teams, more reasons to win. Those are the basics of NASCAR's upgraded Chase format. Twelve teams will qualify for the playoff, up from 10, and the standings heading into the Chase will be determined based on the number of wins during the first 26 races.
NASCAR says it wants to strike a better balance between winning races and consistency on the track. "No one likes when a driver gets out of [his] car and says, 'I'm happy to have had an eighth-place finish.' No one in NASCAR thinks that's a neat thing to hear," said Brian France, NASCAR CEO.
NASCAR hopes offering five more points for a win and seeding the teams for the Chase according to those wins will make teams less likely to points race.
Teams, however, aren't so sure.
"I've said all along," said Matt Kenseth, a three-time Chase qualifier, "with more points to the winner, it's not going to change the winners of the races. ... I don't think it's going to change the people who win [each week]."