Looks aren't everything

NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow has been met with much criticism from the drivers. But Jeff Gordon, who won the pole for Sunday's race at Bristol, the debut of the Car of Tomorrow, said his opinion of the new car is changing.
"Let me just say it's growing on me a little bit," said Gordon, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. "The look of the car is the look of the car. The performance of the car, I feel like we've learned a little bit. I've said the whole time that whether I liked the car or not, we were going to do all we can to be competitive - me as a driver and us as a team. And that was the goal we set out to do. I don't care what car it is. That's our goal."
With each test, Gordon said he is getting more comfortable with the Car of Tomorrow.
"At Darlington, I thought the car was a little bit of an improvement," Gordon said. "Some tracks are going to be extremely difficult to learn, like Dover. The road courses are going to be interesting. Each time I get in the car I learn a little bit more."
Even though Gordon said he is getting used to the Car of Tomorrow, it still does not compare to the old Cup cars.
"Ours was the best of the group today and that's really all that matters," Gordon said. "But there is no way you're going to get the car to feel like our current car. It has twice as much downforce. It doesn't have the limitations that this car does. It's harder to adjust and it definitely creates some more challenges from a drivers' standpoint. Any time you have something that feels good, it's hard to step backwards. But as far as the racing, and as far as competition, it's still my hope that it does everything that NASCAR set out for it to do. And until we get on some faster tracks, we won't know."