Despite all the complaints, new car finding acceptance

That didn't take long.

Usually what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas -- along with at least some of your money.

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But what happened during Sunday's UAW-Dodge 400 Sprint Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was enough to send some folks to the tops of their racecars, where they shouted with joy. One even was so overcome that he did a backflip.

OK, so that was only race winner Carl Edwards, who is making a habit of this. Sunday's victory was his second in a row this season -- his second in less than a week, actually (thanks to the interminably rain-delayed Auto Club 500 in California that didn't wrap up until last Monday).

But Jack Roush, who heads up the Roush Fenway Racing operation that fields Edwards' cars, would have done backflips, too, if he could. And Roush, well, let's just say he doesn't always look at the glass half-full.

Only Captain Jack could win two races in a row and still keep up a steady stream of serious complaints about the Toyota Menace, and how that manufacturer (in his mind) is fielding a superior engine to everyone else (read more).

What happened in Vegas was that, for the first time, praise was heaped en masse on the Car That No Longer Can Be Called What NASCAR Once Wanted Everyone To Call It. That's the CTNLCBCWNOWETCI for short -- but the sport's biggest star, Dale Earnhardt Jr., must not have gotten the memo from headquarters.

He's still calling it the Car of Tomorrow, or COT for short.

And to be totally truthful, he and other drivers remain hesitant in their praise at times. It's as if they are giving the new car begrudging respect in its first full-time season. But the fact is, it won't be long until no one is asking much about it any longer -- because it's here to stay, the races in general have been good with it, and it has now been tested in real race conditions at all of NASCAR's different types of tracks.

Sunday's race was the first time out for it on the 1.5-mile LVMS track. Despite some problems with tires and a record 11 cautions, there was lots of entertaining racing -- and one more important fact to remember.

Jeff Gordon, another of the sport's biggest stars, walked away from a bad wreck and stated afterward that he might not have been able to do so if he hadn't been driving the safety-enhanced newer car (read more). After all, isn't that the main reason it was built to replace the old car -- to protect the drivers? (Continued)