Darlington is now in the record books and for Greg Biffle it's off the recent skids. This was the kind of win Biffle usually gets - he gets out front and that's it. That he hadn't won this season before now is a surprise, especially after he dominated Fontana.
Darlington continued the theme of the last few years - Hendrick versus Roush. Expect that theme to continue in The Winston - i.e. the Nextel All-Star Race - as it enters its 22nd running. With Roush basically the only Ford team, it's a little superfluous to talk about other Fords with any serious shot at the win, especially with Robert Yates Racing suddenly in need of at least one new driver for 2007.
Dale Jarrett's defection to Toyota may wind up being reflected in harsher fan reaction during prerace intros. One can confidently say there is no serious fan sympathy for Toyota, and given Toyota's reputation for helping bankrupt racing series it competes in, there is legitimate reason for concern.
NASCAR has a reputation for tightness of rules to keep a manufacturer from dominating. Toyota, though, is a different animal, as the Truck Series is seeing with the only serious opposition to Toyota coming from Mark Martin's Truckwhacking efforts this season; Chevrolet shows no particular life and Dodge, down to one organization in Hamilton Racing, isn't showing anything either.
NASCAR needs to redouble keeping the playing field level when it comes to Toyota.
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NASCAR's pet project, the Car Of Tomorrow, was tested in the wind tunnel recently. The tests have been called inconclusive. Translated from the spin that permeates so much of the sport, the COT still is not proving to be as raceable as advertised - the most pertinent revelation from wind tunnel testing was that the gapped airdam sported by the COT exacerbates the aeropush; the wing NASCAR has suddenly fallen in love with likewise does nothing to make the car raceable in dirty air. Given the less than encouraging results the concept has suffered in previous testing - who can honestly be surprised that the wind tunnel showed the gapped airdam sported by the COT exacerbates aeropush? - one shouldn't be surprised. To paraphrase one NASCAR writer, NASCAR has staged half a dozen tests and none has been successful.
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The All-Star race will be the first test of Charlotte Motor Speedway's new surface, the first test of harder tires brought in to handle the new surface, and the first non-restrictor plate test of small fuel cells brought in to require pitstops before tires wear out, this following tire trouble in earlier testing on the new surface.
What to expect with these new cells remains a question, though for the Winston one will almost certainly see at least one team gamble by skipping one or two tire changes and going with gas only. Given the event's format, though, this may not be that good a test of this new combination, though if the tires are as hard as advertised we'll likely see cars that skip tire changes having the best chance to win.
Thus does the sport enter its All Star weekend.
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