DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Be careful what you wish for, NASCAR fans.

OK, so we admit, it's only been three races. But you got what you demanded. And so far, what you've seen can't be what you hoped for.

For the record, Kevin Harvick won the first ride-around of the Duel Dogs and Kyle Busch the second. The biggest moment Thursday was when Jeff Gordon got a pit-road speeding penalty in Promenade II and dropped back, opening the way for at least a little scrambling. Otherwise, Gordon would have cakewalked start to finish.

So what do you want to do next? Bring back the Car of Tomorrow? Reminisce about how great tandem drafting was?

Those were the days, weren't they?

Kyle Busch was much more diplomatic about his thoughts on the new "Gen 6" car than he was seven years ago about the Car of Tomorrow. Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

You love nothing more than criticizing NASCAR, but this time you've got to criticize yourselves. NASCAR made these changes at your behest.

Granted, drivers were largely riding around Thursday, trying not to tear up their cars in a pair of traditional but antiquated races going into Sunday's Daytona 500.

"The choice was made by a bunch of us to run around in circles and log laps," said Michael Waltrip, who raced his way into the 500 field on Thursday. But the whole appeal of the Duels, traditionally, has been the wildness created by those forced to race their way in. If Waltrip could cakewalk this thing, what does that tell you?

Granted, we still have yet to see Gen 6 in a full contingent of 43 cars. Further granted, this is a restrictor-plate track, and in a week these cars will begin the steady NASCAR diet of unrestricted tracks.

But right now, it doesn't look good. And NASCAR's showcase race is not the best place to flop.

You wanted Gen 6 to look like your street car. It does. And that's about how it runs at Daytona.

Come to think of it, maybe your street car runs better. You tell me: When you run up behind another car on the interstate, does your car hit a wall of air and then recoil as if it had been punched in the nose with a boxing glove?

"They really stall easy," said Greg Biffle, after finishing second to Harvick in the first 150-mile dog. "They won't suck up to the guy in front of you."