I get it.

Jeff Gordon is a great champion who has represented the sport of NASCAR well for two decades plus.

He was dominant in the late 1990s and into the early 2000s, has four Cup championship trophies as a result, and will desperately be seeking another one in his final full-time year competing for Rick Hendrick in 2015.

He may well win, as he showed in 2014 that he is still fully capable of competing for a championship. If not for some bad luck toward the end of the 2014 Chase, he may well have been there in the end to compete for the title at Homestead.

Hybrids come in all sizes these days, with even large SUVs offering eco-friendly mpg sippers in an effort to draw more buyers.

But one of the key categories for hybrids remains the compact car, and there’s quite a bit of competition in this area from both the U.S. and foreign automakers. One consistent competitor is the Honda Civic, which continues to wage a strong fight in the compact hybrid battlefield.

I recently spent some time in a 2014 Civic hybrid, and I’m back with a full report.

With its race-inspired performance and advanced technologies wrapped by seductive curves handcrafted in Italy, Playboy magazine named the all-new Alfa Romeo 4C “2015 Car of the Year – Sports Cars and Convertibles.”

The annual award from Playboy represents a hand-picked list of their favorite vehicles in 2015.