by Jeff Hammond

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Scott from The Woodlands, Texas: Short track racing is about bumping, banging and rubbing. If the drivers leave with all their sheet metal and are upset with the Car of Tomorrow and not another driver, the weekend was a failure. What do you think? Are the drivers just being careful? Or is the COT so tender that it defies hard racing? Compromising good racing for safety isn't the way to go.

Jeff Hammond: A lot of it had to do with people just being careful. Nobody knew exactly what was going to happen. You don't know how fragile anything is until you get some information on what these cars will take and what they won't take.

I agree with you. It was a little bit more of a boring race than we like to see at a place like Bristol, but it's new. Was it a 100 percent success? No. Was it a 100 percent failure? Absolutely not. NASCAR and the competitors did a very good job of debuting the COT car — the supercar in my opinion — and we grow from there.

After 500 laps, we had a green-white-checkered finish. We had some scenarios developed into an exciting finish. Whether it was the old or new car, it was an exciting finish. That's what we're after, and we got it. We had guys pass on the outside, and we had guys that could have spun out other drivers. We had a very compelling and interesting finish to a 500-lap race at Bristol.

Splitter decision?

Joe from Auburndale, Fla.: Will NASCAR make changes to the nose/splitter if they prove to be a problem, especially when it comes to damaging tires?

Jeff Hammond: Good question. I don't know how NASCAR plans to review this past weekend, but let's wait and see before we start jumping off into anything. I'm sure that they'll review some films, talk to some guys and try to come up with a better idea of how to approach this new splitter. This is just the beginning of the Supercar so there are going to be a lot reasons why NASCAR will make some adjustments. I'm sure they will continue to evaluate things, and next weekend's race at Martinsville will also influence the future.

Bristol breakdown

Chris from Milwaukee, Wis.: What is progressive banking, and how will Bristol Motor Speedway change as far as more grooves? I love bristol as it is, but if there is a way to make this track better, I am all for it.

Jeff Hammond: In theory, it's supposed to create better racing — a second groove — which you saw a little bit of on Sunday. But I'm a lot like you. It's such a great racetrack. You hate to see anybody run the risk of tearing it up and not being able to put it back at least as good as it is right now. We'll have to wait and see. That's the only thing that I can say. Let them finish it up, and let the competitors make the best of it as we go along.

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Giving thanks

I can't say thank you enough to everybody who helped make my Emmy nomination for studio analyst happen, and I can't say thank you enough to the fans that have responded with well wishes. I appreciate it very much, and I'm very humbled.

Making pranks

I'm pretty excited about a new opportunity that has come my way. Lee Roy Mercer punks drivers with prank calls, and he's gotten some pretty heavy hitters, like Tony Stewart, Rusty Wallace and Dale Jarrett. I'm just really excited to be a part of his new CD, "Gone Racin'" (available in April). Plus we've got another association with him and Kenny Wallace at ScreenRacer.com. If you get a chance, go to LeeRoyMercer.com, and check him out. We're hoping that we're going to be able to get these on JeffHammond.com and eventually DWStore.com because I think race fans are going to love it.

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FOX race analyst Jeff Hammond led Darrell Waltrip to two of DW's three Winston Cup championships as his crew chief. They also teamed to win the 1989 Daytona 500.

For autographed copies of Jeff Hammond's book "Real Men Work in the Pits" plus magnets, hats and more, check out www.dwstore.com.

For photos and appearances, visit Jeff's web site www.jeffhammond.com.