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toyota can take their camry and send it back to that farin land it came from, kentuc...

When did I say it's because of Toyota being Japanese in my post? Feel free to show me.

I have nothing against Toyota (actually think they are a great car company) but I thought I would point out that all of the design, and most of the manufacturing, occurs overseas, then the cars are shipped to the U.S. for final assembly.

I see McDowell hitting the wall head on at 185 mph in Texas and I say, thank God for the COT.

Dumb question. Are they running these smaller spoilers all year of just at Daytona?

I would like the username rgordon changed to Hank Hill. Its what I use on other forums, and rgordon quite honestly sounds stupid and has for awhile.

Was reading an interesting article about the Shootout on a blog (it's in portuguese) and it headlines says "Pack racing is back, NASCAR won" and then I ask myself, why? Indeed, NASCAR did what they wanted to do, I mean, make up COT in order to make it digestible at last. All that because NASCAR refuses to accept it's not a winning project (in terms of competition).

Since its introduction, everybody claimed, not only fans but also drivers. It's clear from the outset that COT runs off the normal NASCAR expectations. And what has been done? Makeups after makeups, instead of recognizing and saying "COT is awful for competition, for pack racing and we'll adopt a new car", they preferred to redesign it according to the fans, media and drivers requirements.

And it doesn't need too much to see that this pack racing is not even a shadow of what it wa s like 6 years ago. They're having to resort all kinds of modifications to make good races...this is not normal. The profile of the COT doesn't match with the series expectations, it's simple like that and no matter what change it's made, it's always something to fix a failed project as a whole. Instead of drivers and fans asking for changes, they should ask NASCAR to bring back the principles from the old design. "Oh but saying this you're undermining the safety factor", man.....Safety has always been an issue in motorsport and it'll always be.

One thing I really like about the COT is how it can take much more of a beating and still be competitive. Just look at Kyle Busch and Marcos Ambrose at the Shootout last weekend, you'd never see the old car in that many incidents still finish up front at Daytona. Something about that seems very NASCAR.

Mayfield says he is innocent: Former race car driver Jeremy Mayfield says the new criminal charges against him are "baseless" and suggests he's the target of a conspiracy involving NASCAR and law enforcement officials. Indictments by a North Carolina grand jury released Monday charged Mayfield with three counts of possessing property stolen from businesses, and a fourth charge of obtaining property by false pretense. The charges follow a November raid on Mayfield's Catawba home after which the former NASCAR star was charged with possessing 1.5 grams of methamphetamine. Mayfield, 42, has issued a statement through his attorneys saying he is innocent. "For some reason, the district attorney's office simply ignored our offers to explain the sources of the items seized from my property and chose, instead, to indict," Mayfield said, according to the statement. "We do not know if there is any connection between the NASCAR lawsuit and this investigation but, based upon the evidence disclosed to us already by the district attorney's office, it appears that the Catawba County authorities have been coordinating with NASCAR officials." (See full story at the Associated Press)(2-22-2012)

The Superspeedway pack-racing issues have little to do with the COT and more to do with the replacing of Daytona and improvements in cooling systems. For those who say its about the way the bumpers line up, look at last year's truck plate races - no change in aero or bumper height there.

As for speedway races, people like to look at these things with rose-tinted glasses. Pre-COT superspeedway racing was pretty bloody boring and single-file through the '00s, mainly owing to harder-wearing tires and mandated shocks.

One thing I really like about the COT is how it can take much more of a beating and still be competitive. Just look at Kyle Busch and Marcos Ambrose at the Shootout last weekend, you'd never see the old car in that many incidents still finish up front at Daytona. Something about that seems very NASCAR.