BRISTOL, Tenn. -- A year ago, Kyle Busch won the first race for NASCAR's latest Cup chassis design, and said in Victory Lane for the 2007 Food City 500, "I can't stand to drive them -- they suck."

After 20 races with the chassis, which features less downforce than the previous car and more power but a high center of gravity, Busch, along with many other drivers throughout the Sprint Cup garage, is much more accepting of the car.

"There's been a lot of progress with the new car," Busch said. "This is the first time we've been able to bring it back this year to a track that we've raced with it before. We'll see how it goes this weekend, but from the first race here to what we're coming here with now, we've made a lot of ground with the car.

"It's still an animal to drive -- it's hard to drive and it's definitely making us earn our pay. That's what we're here for and that's why we're the professionals and the best in the world, supposedly, racing in the Sprint Cup Series."

Busch's statistics in those 20 races, plus the fact that he comes into Bristol leading the Sprint Cup standings, point out why his stance has softened on it -- though he's still not a big fan.

Two-time defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson has the most victories with the car, the five he scored in 2007. Carl Edwards has four, while Busch, with two wins, is one of only four drivers with more than one victory in the car.

Jeff Gordon, the 2007 season runner-up, has 12 top-five finishes in the car, Johnson has 10 and Busch has nine. And Gordon has a league-leading 15 top-10s with the car. Busch's current Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Tony Stewart, has 15, while Busch also has 15.

Ryan Newman, who won the 2008 season-opening Daytona 500, had a top-10 the next week at California and has maintained pace to sit fourth in the standings coming into Bristol, has made a decent adaptation to the car. But he knows there's a good reason.

Last season, per NASCAR's plan, the new chassis was used in 15 of 36 races, including all short tracks -- everything 1.3 miles and under -- as well as the two road courses. The "standard car," which was retired after last year's Homestead finale, was used in the other 17 races.

"The biggest thing is that we don't have anything to compare it to anymore," Newman said. "The old car is gone. There is no 'man this thing feels horrible,' [comparing] it to going to our Vegas or Charlotte car. You just can't do that anymore. We don't have anything to compare it to so there's no point in complaining. It doesn't drive as good. It doesn't feel like the old car did. It's like that for a reason. That's the way partially it was designed.

"We've made some big gains with the car. We've learned a lot of suspension things --- items that have changed because of the way we have to drive the cars, because of the suspension travels. They're harder to drive [but] that's OK. It's a little job security for us drivers. Other than that, there's still going to be a winner so we'll just go out and do what we have to do." (Continued)