Jeff Burton (2007 Bristol Test)
“I think all in all, from a driver’s perspective, once you get in the car, it’s just a car. It’s a matter of getting the car to do the things you want it to do. Obviously there’s people that are faster than others. That’s what we do. In my world, it’s no longer about the Car of Tomorrow, it’s just about a car, trying to do it better than everybody else. … The Car of Tomorrow is here today. We’ve been working hard on it.”

Kevin Harvick (2007 Bristol Test)
“The first thing about it is the car is safer. Whatever it is after that is a bonus. The drivers have more room inside. There’s a lot of things built into the car to absorb energy when they hit the wall. That’s just the starting point. … The bottom line is, NASCAR has to make the best decision for them. They felt it was time to evolve the car and make it safer, and the teams will figure out the rest.”

Jimmie Johnson (2007 Bristol Test)
“Here we’re really trying to find out where the sweet spot is with the car. … It’s just a whole trial-and-error routine right now, procedure, trying to find that sweet spot where the car wants to be. … I’m excited for this opportunity with the Car of Tomorrow. Chad and I do a great job of working through new rules packages. We have a whole new race car to play with. I’m excited. Hopefully we can use that to our advantage.”

Kurt Busch (2007 Bristol Test)
“Overall, I think the car is a resounding success for all the teams and for the way it’s going to put on a good race when we come back here next month.”

“It’s a clean slate, so who ever works the hardest and is the most determined and still continues to keep an open frame of mind will succeed in the end. I’m intrigued by it. It’s a new challenge. It has 50 percent of The Chase races this year, so the car of tomorrow is very important.”

“It creates an environment where an underfunded team can come in and compete and I believe compete successfully with so many unknowns around this car right now. That’s what we want, more independent owners and new drivers coming in and having a shot at victory. The car of tomorrow is doing that right now. It’s so wide open.”

“We’re definitely excited about this car and what it can do for our team. All of the short track races are a different mentality that you have to bring when you want to set up this car. It’s a new challenge. It’s fun. The first race is at Bristol, and it’s just like jumping into a full tank of sharks and swimming around with them. We’ll see who comes out on top.”

Denny Hamlin (2007 Bristol Test)
“It really doesn’t drive that much different to tell you the truth. I am just as comfortable in the Impala as I am in the Monte Carlo.”

“It means our team has done a whole lot of homework on this program the last couple of years. This is the first really official test where guys are bringing their race stuff. I am pretty happy about where we are standing because not only are we fast, but we are really good on the long runs and that really matters here. I am definitely excited to come back.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2007 Bristol Test)
“The Impala SS actually drives better than our other cars do here. The car is an inch wider, it has a little more grip. I am really pleasantly surprised really. It has exceeded my expectations at this point and how the car is driving. I anticipated it to be a little more of a struggle get the car to turn, to work, to get it up off the corner. Our lap times are comparable with the other chassis we have been running here the past couple of years. I think we are ahead of the game a little bit, as far as I thought we would be, we are ahead of that.”

Carl Edwards (2007 Bristol Test)
“It’s kind of fun to drive. It’s fun everywhere for me, except for the center of the corner where it won’t turn, but it’s gonna be a great race.”

David Gilliland (2007 Bristol Test)
“I’ve only raced here one other time, but I really can’t notice a difference. I think the race will be better. I think everybody is a little more even now as far as time-wise and I think it will be a better race.”

David Reutimann (2007 Bristol Test)
“I’ve never run a Cup car here at Bristol so to me this really feels like a NASCAR truck with a lot of horsepower.”

Andy Graves, Senior Manager for TRD (Toyota Racing Development) U.S.A. (2007 Bristol Test)
“It’s just a learning process. All the teams and the manufacturers have been working with NASCAR real close and trying to learn the process and trying to get the body built as tight as they want to see them and the chassis. It’s a learning process and it’s something that we’ve never been through before with such tight tolerances on the chassis side. It’s going to take a little bit of getting used to, but just like anything else, once you learn the process and understand what NASCAR wants then we’ll get it sorted out.”

Rick Viers, Crew Chief, No. 84 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Team Red Bull (2007 Bristol Test)
“We have progressed well all day long. We’ve learned a lot and AJ (Allmendinger) has learned a lot about the Car of Tomorrow. It’s probably been a pleasant surprise that things have gone as well as they have.”

NASCAR driver Kurt Busch:

“In the end this Car of Tomorrow is going to be a good thing.”

“I thought it was great…We had to make sure of fender clearances, so we just went two laps at a time. It really shook out to be positive. We played with (rear-) wing angles and different engine-plate combinations. I thought the car could handle any speed it wanted to go.”

“It gets back to a little of what they have with the Truck series - big drag that slows the car down aerodynamically, but an ‘open’ motor (without the restrictor plate) that has the horsepower we’re used to at all our other tracks.”

“It was real interesting to drive. It was right on that edge of sliding all four tires, similar to what we get with the regular car in the draft.”

More from NASCAR driver Kurt Busch:

“It gives you an opportunity to look at a new car and what can it do to help us get to victory lane. The car is not going to do it on its own. We have to develop it. We have to test it, and other teams have to do it as well. If we’ve got two cars here, we’ve got to put that much more emphasis on it because we’re competing against teams that have four cars or five cars. We won’t take the COT to Vegas. When the season starts at Daytona during Speedweeks we’ll probably drop down to Lakeland, Fla., and do a test with our COT. We’ve got a stiff agenda, and we are sticking with it. Each time we go to a new track we’re faster.”

NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne:

“I think it is going to be just fine at Bristol and Martinsville . . . We’ll figure out the rest as we go. It’s a safer car, and it is the car of the future.”

NASCAR driver Ryan Newman:

“We put a lot of time in testing this off season, just trying to work out some kinks we had last year. The car of tomorrow has been good from a testing standpoint. The COT has been a good experience from a testing viewpoint. I think we’ve got seven or eight tests in it. We’ve had some good tests in it. I think for the first time ever the 2 and 12 took the same car to Phoenix one week to Daytona the next week. It’s probably been about 20 years since this has happened. It’s been good – the reaction of the car, it’s a little bit different from the aerodynamic perspective than the car of yesterday. Everything is good. We had good intermediate testing in the off season. I look forward to the entire situation. We’ve made some improvements.”

NASCAR team owner Roger Penske:
“I’ve said it to a number of people. I think what it’s going to do is it’s going to take some cost out. Obviously there’s a cost of developing. We were able to test that car for three or four days at a short track, take the car to Daytona and run 191 mph. When NASCAR gets the rules just right, we’re going to see a safer car and one that we can take to multiple types of circuits. You walk around and see the cars we have, hopefully we can reduce that by 50 percent. The good news is we’re supporting it (COT) and I like the conversation about the car. We’re in the game, and we think it will run a lot of people closer together.”

NASCAR team owner Jack Roush:

“ . . . But this new car looks like it’s going to work out pretty good for everyone in the long run. Let’s hope so.”

More from Jack Roush:

“The car will be ultimately safer and it should have no long-term ill-effect on the racing as we’ve known it with the car of today. I believe the car will be easier for NASCAR to police. Theey’re anxious to have all of our programs, all of our drivers to be in the biggest ball possible to compete from turn four to the start-finish line at every event. I think the cars will be closer than they’ve been.

“The impact of the manufacturers and their contrivance and the team’s contrivance to exact and advantage for themselves – those prospects will be limited based on what they’ve done. I believe that NASCAR and has got the best interest of all the racers and all the manufacturers as they’ve brought this Car of Tomorrow program on us.

Dan Davis, Director of Ford Racing Technology
“From a marketing standpoint, any manufacturer is going to put money where you get your best return. We get tremendous return on racing in NASCAR. You’ve got a fan base out there that’s huge and growing and helps us sell product, so as long as we can do that, we’re here and we’re here with vigor.”

Mike Accavitti, Director of Dodge Motorsports and SRT Marketing
“We’ve always embraced it (Car of Tomorrow) from the get-go. We’ve had a little different attitude than maybe some of the other guys. We’re launching a new nameplate, the Dodge Avenger. I’m really looking forward to getting some exposure for that nameplate.”

John Sturbin, Fort Worth Star-Telegram (”Manufacturers Sharing NASCAR’s COT Vision”)
“So, what about the four manufacturers involved in the project, one also designed to improve the quality of racing and reduce costs? How are DaimlerChrysler, Ford, General Motors and Toyota approaching rollout of the COT? Judging by a recent roundtable discussion, the manufacturers are on board — because NASCAR moves product in North America.”

Jim Pedley, Kansas City Star
“So quickly have minds changed about the Car of Tomorrow program that driver Scott Riggs was asked Thursday whether competitors had unknowingly been subjected to some form of mind control. No, Riggs said, the program just might turn out to do exactly what NASCAR officials said it would do. And that would be improve racing, make drivers safer and cut costs.”

“This week at the Lowe’s Motor Speedway media tour, however, it was hard to find people who remain Car of Tomorrow pessimists. And it was easy to find people who now love the program.”