NASCAR plans post-race COT inspection

NASCAR Nextel Cup Director John Darby told reporters Thursday that NASCAR plans to take cars from each "car of tomorrow" race back to the Research and Development Center for further study. NASCAR officials say they expect to take some Nextel Cup cars back to the Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C., for study after each Nextel Cup race featuring the "car of tomorrow" this season.

Officials expect to take two cars after races to see how they held up during the event and to measure them once more to see if they still match what was presented in the certification test. This is for NASCAR's own information and to study how the cars maintain form during races.

"Obviously race cars twist and bend and move in a normal function of 500 laps or 500 miles, and part of what we want to look for and [need to] understand is the amount of that movement and how much they return to neutral, if you will," NASCAR Nextel Cup Director John Darby said Thursday following the test session at Bristol Motor Speedway.