After years of development with the intention of making stock car racing safer, NASCAR’s “Car of Tomorrow” or the Gen 5 car if you’re into that - made its debut on the Cup Series stage on March 25, 2007 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The race featured a thrilling green-white-checkered finish, as Kyle Busch held off Jeff Burton and Jeff Gordon to win the Food City 500.
Then Busch, who’d led the final 20 laps, thew water on NASCAR’s new toy after the usual post-race interview pleasantries.
“I’m still not a big of these things,” Busch told Fox. “I can’t stand to drive them, they suck.”
Busch and the rest of the Cup Series would be stuck with that generation of car, and its ugly rear wing for a few more years. After rolling out full-time in 2008, the “Car of Tomorrow” stuck around through the 2012 season.
Even today, the well intentioned car leaves a bad taste for some.
Trash https://t.co/iYSNpUYhzA
— Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) August 14, 2019
Also on this date:
1973: Cale Yarborough led all 500 laps to claim a Cup win at Bristol Motor Speedway. For Yarborough, it was his first Cup win since returning to NASCAR full-time after two years spent competing in USAC Champ Cars. Yarborough finished two laps ahead of second-place finisher Richard Petty.