BRISTOL, Tenn. -- When a driver steps out of the winning racecar and starts ripping the vehicle that he drove to Victory Lane, it doesn't appear to bode well for that new style of racecar.

But the success or failure of NASCAR's much-anticipated Car of Tomorrow depended on who was talking in the wake of Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. While race winner Kyle Busch clearly -- and repeatedly -- stated that he hates the COT, other drivers said that it wasn't that big of a deal and most added that it's too soon to judge one way or another.

"I didn't feel like my car handled as good as what we've had here in the past," said Jeff Gordon, who wrestled with his No. 24 Chevrolet all day before driving it to a third-place finish behind Busch and second-place finisher Jeff Burton. "I was just really was having a problem getting it to turn through the middle. Certainly I think we made improvements from the test [at the same track last month] and I think we will continue to make improvements. But we're limited. We're so limited in what we can do to fix some of the issues we have with the car.

"We're going to learn and get smarter about what we can do. ... But there are some things we might not be able to fix."

The basic idea behind the COT is that it is a safer racecar and teams work with the same chassis, so there are limited adjustments that can be made to the machine -- especially during a race. It also looks and handles differently because of slightly wider and taller dimensions, and because it has a "front splitter" and rear wing that the older cars do not have.

But Burton said that it doesn't really matter what the drivers think of the new car and how it looks or handles. He said that it is apparent that NASCAR is committed to it, so everyone needs to adjust to the car, and not so much the other way around.

"I think the media is trying to make so much about the Car of Tomorrow," Burton said. "We think about it as our job to make it work. We don't have any choice. I mean, what choice do we have? We can complain about it, or we can love it. But at the end of the day, they're going to pay us points and they're going to pay us money based on how we finish.

"It doesn't matter if we like the car or love the car. The only thing that matters is the result as it relates to your competition. So I'm not encouraged; I'm not discouraged. I believe if you give Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, Richard Childress Racing, Jack Roush -- wherever you go and whatever box you put 'em in, they're going to do their best to build a better racecar than the guys they're racin' against. That's what we do. Those are our jobs.

"I think it's going to be fine because the teams have to make it that way. We have no choice."

NASCAR's changes changing Bristol

Kyle Busch will go down in history as the winner of the first Car of Tomorrow race. The loser, David Caraviello says, was Bristol Motor Speedway.

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Gordon said that if the Car of Tomorrow really is set to become the full-time Car of Today, why wait until 2008 or 2009 to start running it full time? Nextel Cup Series director John Darby has said that NASCAR would like to possibly begin running the COT full time by next season, one year ahead of the original schedule for implementing it. The Nextel Cup Series will use the COT in only 16 of 36 races this season, including this Sunday at Martinsville.

"We're comparing it to the current car. And the current car, sorry, but it drives better; it has greater downforce; it has better feel; it has more grip," Gordon said. "If you compare it to that car, you're not going to like it. If NASCAR sees the results that they like on the racetrack, then we just need to get rid of the current car and go to this car -- because you're never going to like it compared to the car that we have now.

"We stepped backwards in a lot of ways -- but if it's safer and the races are better, then I'm all for it. It's going to make it more difficult for the driver and the teams to get these cars hooked up, but if it makes for safer driving and better entertainment in the sport, then I'm all for it. We just can't answer that question here this weekend."

Driver Greg Biffle agreed, adding that he didn't think the COT handled that much differently at Bristol than the car it is supposed to replace.

"At this particular racetrack, it's not a tremendous amount different," Biffle said. "It bounces a little bit harder going in the corner because of that splitter ... but other than that, people worried about parts falling off of it and this and that. I don't think that's an issue. Obviously it wasn't. Where the true test is going to come is when we get to bigger tracks where aero really matters -- Dover and these 1-mile [tracks], Richmond and so on. We'll see."

Driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. said that it wasn't easy trying to pass other COTs on the track.

"Passing was tougher because nobody's cars handled quite as good," Earnhardt said. "You drove the car basically the same; it just didn't have the same characteristics of downforce and grip. You become frustrated with that as a driver. That was the only thing. Hopefully we can just learn the car better."

Burton added: "You can't judge the Car of Tomorrow [Sunday]. There were no catastrophic problems because of the Car of Tomorrow, but the race wasn't great because of the Car of Tomorrow, either. The race at Bristol is going to be a good race. It doesn't matter what you do."