FAST-APPROACHING FUTURE; There's lot to talk about in NASCAR, especially off track.(News)

Byline: AL PEARCE

Nextel Cup's biggest stories have happened off the track. The only major on-track ones involved the Car of Tomorrow and the Hendrick Motorsports juggernaut of Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch and Casey Mears. Together, they've won 10 of 17 races [this story was written before the July 7 Daytona race]: four each by Gordon and Johnson, one each by Busch and Mears. Juan Pablo Montoya claimed Dodge's only win, and Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth have Ford's only two. The other four races have gone to Chevrolet drivers Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin and Jeff Burton.

Gordon, Johnson and Busch were first, fourth and ninth in points, respectively, at midseason, safely within the 12-driver Chase for the Championship "playoff'' field. (NASCAR expanded the playoff field this year to 12 in hopes of not excluding anyone of note.) Hamlin and Tony Stewart were second and sixth, Kenseth and Edwards third and seventh, Harvick and Burton fifth and eighth, and Truex 10th. Clint Bowyer (11th) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (12th) are on the bubble.

Drivers generally don't like the bigger, bulkier, harder-to-handle COT. But racing has been somewhat better, especially the terrific last-lap finishes at Bristol, Martinsville, Phoenix and New Hampshire. The COT will run all 36 races next year.

NASCAR made it clear that it will not tolerate teams fudging in the "gray area'' during tech inspection, especially with the COT. Dale Earnhardt Inc., Hendrick Motorsports and Michael Waltrip Racing were fined, lost owner and driver points and had key personnel suspended for cheating. Roush Racing and Evernham Motorsports also took ...