Chevy cars still strong
Six of the top 10 quailifiers for the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway are driving Chevrolets. This is the third race for NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow.
Hendrick Motorsports drivers won the first two Car of Tomorrow races. Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet, won the Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway and Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet, followed with a win at Martinsville Speedway.
Jeff Gordon won the pole for the Phoenix race. Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Chevrolet for Joe Gibbs Racing, will start third.
Hamlin said despite his strong qualifying effort, Hendrick Motorsports is still the team to beat in the Car of Tomorrow.
"They seem really good but they were really good in the other cars," Hamlin said. "I think you see the same teams up front with the new car that you did with the other car. It's better safety-wise so I guess it's a step in the right direction but right now they're not driving that well."
Johnson will start the Phoenix race sixtth. Martin Truex Jr., a driver for Dale Earnhardt Inc., will start seventh. Kevin Harvick, a driver for Richard Childress Racing and two-time winner at Phoenix, will start eighth. Tony Stewart, a driver for Joe Gibbs Racing, will start ninth.
Stewart said he isn't seeing many differences between the Car of Tomorrow and the old Cup cars at Phoenix.
"It's pretty much following suit with what we've had in the past. No real difference," said Stewart, driver of the No. 20 Chevrlolet for Joe Gibbs Racing. "I don't think we're going to see a lot of a difference until we get to the mile-and-a-halves or anywhere bigger we're actually running a lot of speed. It's still a short track here. We're not running the speeds here that we run everywhere else."
Which team will win the next Cup race with the Car of Tomorrow?
Hendrick Motorsports
Richard Childress Racing
Joe Gibbs Racing
Dale Earnhardt Inc.
Roush Fenway Racing
Evernham Motorsports



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