The car formerly known as the Car of Tomorrow was first developed with a wing. NASCAR is now switching back to the traditional spoiler. (Photo: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)

“We tried what we call A-B…which is where you take the wing off, bolt the spoiler on,” said Busch, the 2004 Cup champion. “The car had a looser feel to it. It felt as if the front end was turning better and it felt like the rear end was sliding a bit more. And then when you A-B the sets of tires – like last year’s tire we won on and the tire Goodyear wants to head in the general direction of (in 2010) – it tightened the car back up for a nice comfortable feel. And that’s what we have to do – ultimately put together a better package for the drivers on the track, which will create more side-by-side excitement for our fans to enjoy.”

Busch, of Penske Racing, said his biggest disappointment with the COT has been the front-end splitter and lack of travel in the front end.

“We’re setting these cars on bump rubbers instead of riding around on springs,” Busch said. “And to me, it limits the feel in the front end on how we can get the car to handle right. What it does with the spoiler is it seems to add front downforce. Don’t ask me how it does it; the engineers in the wind tunnel can tell us that. But when you bolt something on the back of the car and it adds to the front, that’s how space-age these cars are getting.”

Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevy, said his Impala SS ran fine with the spoiler. “I didn’t think it was a real big deal, honestly,” said Stewart, who is poised to start his second season as owner of Stewart-Haas Racing. “I haven’t even thought about it. I was told we were going to try it today…and it’s like OK. It didn’t seem to be a big balance change, which is good. That means you don’t have to re-invent the wheel, necessarily. It was a balance shift, but not a big balance shift. Not really.”

Stewart was more pleased with the time he actually spent testing for Goodyear Racing.

“I thought they did a good job today,” said Stewart, Cup champion in 2002 and 2005. “They had a lot of different combinations. Every time I’ve done a test they bring a lot of compounds, a lot of construction changes to try. So we harped on ‘em a couple of years ago hard enough to work harder and they did that. For that I’m thankful and I think all of us are. So we don’t mind doing the extra work for a couple of days to go and try to help sort it out and make it better for the sport. They’re working hard, they’re spending a lot of money to make it better and you got to give them credit for it.

“(Because) it’s all a package. You’ve got two kinds of grip – you’ve got aerodynamic grip and mechanical grip. The spoiler is obviously the aero grip and the tires are the mechanical grip. The good thing about mechanical grip is it doesn’t know the difference if you’re running first in line or 10th in line. Aero grip is when you know the difference from the rest of it. I get more excited about mechanical grip.”

Biffle, who didn’t run the spoiler until the afternoon portion, liked the way his Fusion handled.

“It drove a little bit different on the corner exit, I think, than the wing did,” Biffle said. “It may have had a little feel like the old car possibly in some scenarios, but it’s hard to tell. I went out and made 10 laps and then switched it. But I like it. You could tell it’s got some more drag because they made it a little bit bigger and wider. But I think it’s going to be good. I’m anxious to get side-by-side with some other cars and see how it drives.

“I’m sure at one point (Wednesday) we’ll try to find each other maybe for five or 10 laps and see how they drive. The reality is the car is big and square and they’re naturally not going to drive good behind one another. But maybe we’ll get an idea of what they do drive like around each other.”

Biffle also praised NASCAR officials for being proactive in listening to drivers, owners and fans on various means to improve the overall quality of racing.

“I think they’re trying to get the racing a little more competitive, which it’s damn competitive right now, if you ask me,” Biffle said. “We’ve got one of the biggest spectator sports in America and they want to keep it interesting. They listen to the fans. They wanted double-file restarts, they did it. A lot of fans say they don’t like the wing on a traditional racecar. They asked us about it, what we thought about it. We thought it would be good to put a spoiler back on the car, or at least try it. And I guess we’re trying it.”

Biffle also said it is realistic that the spoiler could be in use when the Cup series visits TMS for the Samsung Mobile 500 weekend April 15-18.

“I think six-eight races into the season they could implement this spoiler easily,” Biffle said. “For all the intermediate tracks, this car will respond fine to this spoiler. I think there needs to be some testing…little shorter, little taller, little narrower. I don’t think you can just spit something out of the blender and say that’s it. I’m hoping NASCAR does little variations with it to find out what really works on the car good.”

John Sturbin covered college sports, baseball as well as the NHL and Dallas Cowboys while working at the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram. He was their fulltime motorsports beat writer from 1995 to 2008. John can be reached at jsturbin@racintoday.com