Kurt Busch posted the fastest opening day time in his Dodge as Atlanta Motor Speedway's three-day Pep Boys Auto 500 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup race weekend was extended until Tuesday, allowing teams to complete a Car of Tomorrow test at NASCAR's fastest track.
More than 50 drivers were on-hand to fine-tune the car that will make its official Atlanta Motor Speedway debut during the Kobalt Tools 500 Sprint Cup Series race next March. Kyle Busch lapped the 1.54-mile quad oval a hundredth of a second adrift of his brother in second, with fellow Chevrolet ace Regan Smith in third and leading Toyota representative, former Champ Car star AJ Allmendinger, in fourth.
“The Car of Tomorrow does drive differently, there's no question,” underlined veteran Jeff Burton, “but probably not as differently as one would assume. The struggles we have with the current car are similar to the struggles we have with the new car.
“The new car has less grip overall, so that tends to magnify the problem more, but if I read the comments from what I said on Sunday during the race, they're very similar to what I'm seeing today.”
Just over a second separated the quickest driver from the slowest at the end of the first day of testing.
