Nextel Cup's `Car of Tomorrow' tested at Michigan speedway

Toyota made its first on-track appearance in the world of NASCAR Nextel Cup on Monday. The venue: the giant, two-mile Michigan International Speedway in the Irish Hills.

Toyota, which will debut the Camry in Cup competition at Daytona in February, tested its "Car of Tomorrow" alongside Chevy, Dodge and Ford teams, which also ran their versions of the slightly bigger and boxier car with the carbon-fiber rear wing and front-end splitter.

NASCAR plans to phase in the new models _ which it considers safer and more cost-effective _ during three years, starting in 2007. Monday was Toyota's coming out party.

Bill Elliott, the 1988 NASCAR champion, was first out in the Red Bull Toyota when the track opened for business at 10 a.m. He was followed by Evernham Motorsports driver Scott Riggs in a Dodge and Joe Nemechek in the MB2 Motorsports Chevrolet.

Later, Michael Waltrip (Toyota), Jeff Gordon (Chevrolet), Kurt Busch (Dodge), Carl Edwards (Ford), Ryan Newman (Dodge) and Monday's race winner Matt Kenseth (Ford) tested their cars, running by themselves at first and then in packs.

Gordon's reaction to the new-model test: "It doesn't drive bad," he said. "This is my first time in the car, and I think it's the first time it's been on a track this big, as far as an unrestricted track. By itself the car drives pretty good."

But the four-time Cup champion wasn't sold on its looks.

"I still have my reservations and concerns," Gordon said. "The car isn't very attractive looking and, you know, we had an opportunity to make it a really sleek-looking, cool car."

NASCAR believes the car is safer thanks to a higher roof and larger cockpit, double roll bars on the driver's side and steel plating to help prevent intrusion into the driver's cocoon during impact.

It also says the rear wing will add better balance and better control in traffic and that the rear wing and front splitter will allow teams more flexibility in setting up their cars because they can run the same vehicle at short tracks and superspeedways.

Although the cockpit of the "Car of Tomorrow" is designed so that the driver sits four inches farther to the right, Gordon didn't feel any different at MIS.

"I'm as close to the door bars as I was before," Gordon said.

Busch, the 2004 Cup champion, liked the rear wing on the car and the safety aspects.

"The rear wing makes it real stable in the back," said Busch, who drives for Penske Racing South. "It reminds me a little bit of my (Craftsman) Truck Series days, just the way the cabin feels around you. Just your surroundings where the dash is, the windshield angle, just the way you feel the car. It's roomier, and you have a lot more space."

Lee White, senior vice president and general manager of Toyota Racing Development, oversaw Toyota's test at MIS. He was relieved to see the new car finally take the track.

"It's exciting after three years working with NASCAR and to finally be out there and part of the big show, even if there isn't a soul in the grandstands," he said.

White said the chance of Toyota winning right out of the box would be tough.

"There's a lot of work to do before we can get there," White said. "We will be racing against competitors who have been there a long time."

Veteran Waltrip will run a three-car Toyota Cup team in 2007. He started off conservatively in his first session on the track Monday.

"It's just the unknowns you worry about," said Waltrip of the new Toyota. "I don't know what it will do if I get it a little sideways. I don't know what it will do if I get it fishing, where I need to react to something that's different. But the cool thing is that I was driving down the back straightaway, looking around and saying, `Damn, look at all this room I got.' That's a wonderful feeling, knowing that you're not all crunched down in there."