Nationwide COT could be delayed

Nationwide Series director Joe Balash said the current plan for the car to be introduced is the 2010 season, but he stressed that they would review that during the year and may well postpone its debut.

"All of our development work is still going forward," Balash said. "We have an engineering process and a timeline that we're still working on. We have to be prepared to launch the new car in 2010.

"Now, we'll still work with the owners and see what the economy does to make sure it's the right thing to do, but we have to be prepared."

Some teams in NASCAR's second-tier series are against bringing in the new car next season. Not only it would raise costs due to it being radically different to the current specification, but it would also put a number of cars out of use.

"I don't think it's going to happen," team owner Rusty Wallace told autosport.com. "If you ask me now, I don't think that teams can now afford to change to a completely new car. I would like to see that pushed back."

The new Nationwide Series car was initially expected to run for the first time this season but series' officials decided to delay its debut until next year.

Prototypes of the car have already run on track for the first time in September of last year.