Love's team uses Lincoln's Precision TIG 375 Welder that provides the widest welding range in its class — 2 amps to 420 amps for both AC and DC — and TIG pulser heat input control for any weld. Love uses the Precision TIG for special metals, such as titanium, aluminum, chrome, moly and stainless, for such parts as tailpipes and front suspension, and for other external parts.

The Gibbs Racing shop also recently acquired a new Invertec V310-T, an advanced portable AC/DC tungsten gas-arc welder that is designed for such applications as motorsports. The Invertec V310-T features an LCD screen with a dynamic display that is designed to make relevant parameters visible at a glance. The V310-T allows users to customize the arc through an adjustable AC frequency and selectable wave shapes.

“We're still experimenting to find the best areas where to use it. Right now, I've been using it for a lot of our parts,” Love said.

“So far, the aluminum aspect of it has been great. It has some new technology that makes aluminum exciting to weld. The size of the machine is great and can be used anywhere in our trucks or around the car,” Love said.

While tungsten gas-metal arc welding plays a major role in the construction of any Joe Gibbs Racing car, that's not to say gas-metal arc welding doesn't have its place in the team's fabrication shop. The crew uses gas-metal arc welding to make support tubes and for body fabrication.

Because the Car of Tomorrow is still a relatively new concept that requires regular refinement and tweaking, constant testing of vehicles is a must to make them race-day ready.

Joe Gibbs Racing drivers, including Joey Logano, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Marc Davis, regularly track test their cars. That allows the team to improve performance issues and to tailor cars to individual driver preferences — within the parameters of the Car of Tomorrow specifications.

“There are some places on the car that could stand to be lighter,” Love said.

“The lighter you build the car, the more you can adjust your racing conditions. There is room to ‘legally’ tweak it for smaller race tracks or super speedways — we're still learning what those ways are through trial and error. The longer we run this car (the Car of Tomorrow) on different tracks, the more we will find ways to make those changes. You can't rush it. We have to take our time on the decisions. It all comes down to winning a race in the end.”

Rigorous Chassis Certification Levels the Playing Field

While each racing team puts is own stamp on NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow (CoT) design blueprint, each car's chassis must undergo an intensive certification process before it can enter competition. Additionally, any chassis that has been involved in a crash must also be re-certified before it can be used again on a track.

Racing teams bring their chassis to NASCAR's state-of-the-art Research and Development facility in Concord, N.C.

Technicians there use a system comprised of two sophisticated, portable coordinate measuring machines to inspect more than 220 locations on the chassis before qualifying it for certification.

The system, developed by Romer Inc., creates a three-dimensional data representation of each chassis to compare its features with NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow design rules. The machine consists of a seven-axis rotating arm, a steel platform with drill holes places in a unique pattern that is certified by laser and special operating software.

Chassis undergoing inspection are rolled onto the platform and locked into place. The articulating measuring arm, once activated, uses a ball probe that matches to the drill holes to identify the specific location on the system's grid and accurately determine the X, Y and Z coordinates for any location on the chassis to be certified.

NASCAR technicians certify the chassis for adherence to height and width tolerances using the Romer arm. They also use an ultrasound probe to check sheet-metal thickness.

Once a chassis gains certification at the NASCAR R&D Center, it is fitted with 10 radio frequency identification (RFID) microchips placed on various locations throughout the chassis. Each of these chips matches a unique serial number that is placed on the chassis' interior roll bar.

NASCAR inspectors at the track can then check RFID chips to determine a chassis current certification status and history, ensuring that only certified chassis compete in races.

“Post race, we also bring in the winner and at least one other car and re-inspect on site, too. We keep close tabs on every chassis and their condition,” notes Don Krueger, lead fabricator at NASCAR's Research and Development Center.

The entire initial inspection takes less than two hours and is provided by NASCAR at no cost to the racing teams. More than 2,000 chassis have been certified or re-certified since the end of the 2006 racing season, with a success rate of 90 percent.