Some drivers find COT car switching to be a challenge (cont'd)

"I think the formula NASCAR had -- in walking us into the Car of Tomorrow -- is correct instead of wiping the slate clean and starting with just the Car of Tomorrow," Jeff Burton said. "The negative is that we're going to go back and forth from one car to the other throughout the year. That's a challenge for us as teams to overcome.

"Keep this in mind too: Bristol and Martinsville are completely different from Texas. So when I walked in the gate I didn't say, 'You're in the old-style car and you need to drive it this way.' I was thinking, 'You're at Texas Motor Speedway, this is what you need to accomplish.'"

The machine is scheduled to appear in 14 more races this season, 26 races in 2008 and all 36 in 2009. How firm that schedule is, however, has been up for debate.

"Now that we've gone ahead and we're racing the Car of Tomorrow, if that's the direction we're headed in and NASCAR is happy with it, I'd like to see us do more of it," said Jeff Gordon, who has been critical of the COT.

Success, however, could have changed his mind. At Bristol, Gordon finished third behind teammate Kyle Busch and Burton. At Martinsville, Gordon bumped teammate Jimmie Johnson until the checkered flag eventually settling for second.

On Saturday in the regular cars, when Cup drivers finally got a normal practice despite overcast skies, Gordon was 26th in the morning session and 28th in the final practice. Of course, Texas is one of three tracks at which Gordon has never won.

If those practice results transfer into Sunday's Samsung 500, Gordon may be an even bigger proponent of speeding up the COT's gradual schedule.

"The uniqueness about [the COT] is that it's a little bit different from a driver's standpoint," Gordon said, "but mainly different for the team in the setup and preparation and the whole inspection process and everything."

Team owners won't argue.

"I think it's harder than they're willing to admit because it's so completely different," Ray Evernham said of his crew members. "[The COT is] a different car, it acts differently, it drives differently, different parts, you don't set it up the same way. It's got to confuse them there. They're really hammer-down trying to get to the racetrack anyway, and then you've got a mindset one way and you have to change. It's got to be hard."

But for the men who make both machines go fast, there's still one primary job.

"I'm not really paying much attention to what car I'm driving; I'm just trying to make it go around the track as fast as I can," Burton said. "And I think that's probably what everybody's doing."