Prior to the opening round of practice at Martinsville, John Darby, NASCAR NEXTEL Cup series director, and Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice-president of competition, met with the media to discuss the performance of the COT and to address the post-race issue with Greg Biffle's Ford.

Biffle's car was found to be too low during the post-race inspection but after reviewing the case, NASCAR announced no penalties would be assessed as the perceived infraction was caused by normal wear and tear. Also, the governing body indicated they would relax the height and weight tolerances during the learning process with the COT.

The NASCAR overseers indicated Kyle Busch's winning Chevrolet was "a breath away from being in same position as the No. 16 (Biffle) car."

Darby and Pemberton were pleased with the overall performance of the COT, which made its debut after some three years of development. "I thought the (Bristol) race came off as well as could be expected," Pemberton said. "One thing we noticed is that the matched-up bumpers seemed to help as far as the race goes, where if you got tagged in the rear, the car didn't get jacked up and come around."

He also said it reaffirmed what the officials already knew from the safety standpoint and indicated the bumper alignment reduced the number of caution periods.

From Darby's standpoint, he said his team's goal was to make sure the car was race worthy. Questions Darby was looking to answer were: "Can we run 500 miles without overheating the cars, will we have brakes left at the end and will there be failures of shocks and springs and the components in the new car?"

Darby admitted several teams experienced exhaust system failures and he believed teams are seeking satisfactory solutions to the problems. He also indicated the competitive performance of the cars will not be fully known until a race is run on a large track such as the Darlington Speedway.

Asked to grade the car's performance, Pemberton gave it an A minus while Darby gave it a solid B.

"There were a couple of problems with parts and pieces," Pemberton said. "But when you factor in the different mix of cars and the closeness of the racing, we did well."

Darby looked at the car's performance from several perspectives, factoring in garage activities, the inspection process and the race results. "I give race operations a C plus, and a higher score for the race," he said. "The neat thing is that in one week's time, the overall grade should be a high B.

He indicated four hours has been shaved off the inspection process between Bristol and Martinsville.

The NASCAR officials believe it is too early to project whether the COT will become the only car in use by the end of the 2007 season but they recognize the challenge and the expenses incurred by teams fielding two types of cars.

"NASCAR would welcome the transition with open arms, and we believe the crew chiefs and mechanics would prefer making the decision now," Darby said. "We don't want to force the teams into it. The team owners write the checks to build these things, and they must be comfortable with the move. We'll cross that bridge when it comes."

Pemberton added, "About one-third of the cars at Martinsville were used last week at Bristol, and this is exactly what we wanted to have happen. A year ago you could not physically run the same car at Bristol and Martinsville."

The pair addressed the complaints of a handful of drivers and attributed their concerns to the acceptance of change. "For every driver that dislikes the car, you'll find a driver that likes it," Darby said. "The one thing they all agree on is what's out there on Sunday they will jump in and race it."

They also agreed they are open to suggestions from the competitors and they know that changes can and will be made as the COT evolves.