“An insane racecar to drive”: NASCAR driver shares his honest reaction of Jimmie Johnson’s 2012 Car of Tomorrow footage

The NextGen NASCAR car boasts a maximum power output of 670 horsepower on most tracks, with exceptions for restricted plate tracks like Talladega Superspeedway or Daytona International Speedway. However, there was a time when a typical NASCAR car could generate a substantial 850 horsepower.

A NASCAR fan on X shared a clip of seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson riding the Car of Tomorrow (CoT) at Road Atlanta during a test session back in 2012. NASCAR Xfinity Series driver and pit reporter for NASCAR on NBC, Parker Kligerman shared the video saying,

“The COT for as bad it was on the outside, was still an insane racecar to drive. In my thousands of miles testing at Penske. Every early 7am start with 850HP+ at your disposal was always epic. No matter how many times you drove it, there was always an adjustment to the power.”

The Car of Tomorrow, also known as the Gen 5 car, ran in the Cup Series from 2007 to 2012. As per reports, the car had several performance issues and, therefore, was replaced by the Gen 6 machine in 2013. Three-time Cup Series champion Tony Stewart called it “The Flying Brick” due to the car’s blocky design.

Notably, Kyle Busch, who drives the No. 8 Chevy Camaro for Richard Childress Racing in the Cup Series, won the first-ever race in the CoT. Still, the two-time Cup champ never grew fond of it.

“I’m still not a big fan of these things. I can’t stand to drive them, they suck,” Busch said in an interview (via buildingspeed.org).

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Jimmie Johnson credits NASCAR for his seventh Championship title

Jimmie Johnson during the NASCAR Cup Series Championship race at Phoenix Raceway - Source: Imagn

After winning his sixth Cup Series title in 2013, Jimmie Johnson was looking to equal his tally with Richard “The King” Petty and the great Dale Earnhardt. However, NASCAR revamped the existing playoffs and brought about an elimination-style format which kept him from bagging his seventh title win in 2014, as well as in 2015.

Luckily, the 2016 schedule was shaken up just a little, placing Martinsville and Texas in a way that perfectly suited the El Cajon native. Reflecting on the same, Johnson said (via Hendrick Motorsports),

“If Martinsville and Texas weren’t where they were in the schedules and it was one of my bad tracks, I may not have made the championship round in 2016 for my seventh.”

“We loved car changes. We succeeded through change and it was largely because of the ingenuity we had in the shop, our team, and the guy sitting on the box for me,” Jimmie Johnson further explained.

Today, Jimmie Johnson owns Legacy Motor Club, a North Carolina-based race team operating in the Cup Series. He also races occasionally with the No. 84 car under the banner of Legacy Motor Club.

Johnson was inducted into the prestigious NASCAR Hall of Fame this year alongside his longtime crew chief Chas Knaus and Donnie Allison of the famed Alabama Gang.