May 14, 2007

The Rich Get Richer

Perhaps Hendrick Motorsports should send a gift basket to the folks at NASCAR responsible for the Car of Tomorrow (COT) program. So far, the COT program has been to the Hendrick team what gravy is to biscuits: Each makes the other better. Far better.

Consider the fact that at the time of this writing, the Hendrick team had won all four COT events contested so far this season. That's impressive, but it doesn't tell the whole story. Not only have Hendrick drivers won all of the COT races, but they have also dominated the top spots in each of them. At Richmond, Va., Jimmie Johnson won the race, teammate Kyle Busch was second, and his other brother Darryl -- er, excuse us -- his other teammate, Jeff Gordon, was fourth. 

The results in other Car of Tomorrow races are remarkably similar. In the first one at Bristol, Tenn., Kyle Busch was the winner, and Jeff Gordon was third. At Martinsville, Va., the Hendrick team was even more dominant with Jimmie Johnson in first place, Gordon in second and Busch in fourth. In the Phoenix, Ariz. race, Gordon finished first, Johnson fourth.

Whatever is going on here, it is far more than just coincidence. First, there is absolutely no doubt that Hendrick employs some of the best drivers in the sport. Furthermore, it seems there is no team better prepared or better organized to win races in today's Nextel Cup era. Given all that, it is still quite remarkable that one team can be so powerful in a racing series that puts a great deal of emphasis on equality (if not brotherhood).

What this all makes clear is that, for the short-term at least, the Car of Tomorrow program could present real problems for NASCAR. The great untold story of Nextel Cup racing is that each week, the majority of drivers and teams are more likely to be struck by lightning on the track than to win a race. (And this is a series that doesn't race in the rain.) In essence, most of the competitors in Nextel Cup are doing little more than piloting rolling billboards that the real contenders must dodge on their way to victory lane. From a dramatic point of view -- and NASCAR is all about the TV show -- it would be wonderful to see a back-of-the-pack guy win a race now and then. After all, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays do beat the Yankees every once in awhile. But the way things are going, that seems further away than ever.