Race 1 � (Daytona) Stewart comes into this race as one of the prime favorites after winning the shootout for a second straight year. However, Tony blows up two laps into the Daytona 500, leaving Stewart in 43rd place � already 146 points out of first place.

Race 4 � (Atlanta) Tony recovers from the Daytona debacle with his third straight top-five finish, this time a win in the Atlanta 500, his first ever 500-mile race win. The victory moves Stewart up to fifth in the early Cup standings.

Race 5 � (Darlington) Stewart starts the Darlington Spring race with the same Hula Girl in the rear deck that he had in Atlanta. It would be anything but a good-luck charm on this week as he is collected and T-Boned by Jimmy Spencer in one of the year�s most frightening crashes. The 36th place finish drops Tony to 12th in the standings.

Race 6 � (Bristol) Although criticized for his own driving ability during the course of the season, many forget the small role Todd Bodine would play in Tony Stewart winning his first championship. Tony starts at Bristol still suffering from the effects of lower-back injuries from the Darlington crash the previous week. Stewart guts it through two-thirds of the race before spinning on the backstretch � fortunately not hitting a wall or any other drivers. Todd Bodine is brought in to relieve Stew, and despite having virtually no experience in the #20 rallies the car to a 15th place finish. The dozen or so positions gained by Bodine proved to be the final difference in the points championship.

Race 9 � (Talladega) Coming off a pair of top-five finishes, Stewart spends much of the Aaron�s 499 restrictor-plate race lagging towards the back of the field before attempting to move up in the later stages. Stewart gets pushed into the wall and caught up in THE BIG ONE, and the #20 would limp home to a 29th place finish.

Race 10 � (California) Stewart is forced to make an unscheduled pit stop after cutting a tire midway through the California 500. The end result is a second straight 29th place finish, dropping Stewart to 10th in the standings.

Race 11 � (Richmond) On what Stewart called �the worst surface I�ve ever race on in my life� � Tony wins the rain delayed Pontiac Excitement 400 for his second victory of the season. That moves Stewart up to eighth in the standings, 251 points out of first.

Race 16 � (Sears Point) Has a great weekend on the first of two road-course races, winning the pole and placing second behind Ricky Rudd. The result elevates Stewart to fifth in the standings, 88 points behind leader Sterling Marlin.

Race 17 � (Daytona) An early crash gives Stewart a 39th place finish, his third awful result in as many restrictor plate races � which drops Stewart to seventh in the standings.

Race 19 � (New Hampshire) After rebounding with a third in Chicago, Stewart crashes out midway through the New England 300 on a treacherous surface. After climbing out of his damaged Pontiac, Stewart takes his hand and brushes away a safety worker.

An interview Tony does not mind...

Race 21 � (Indianapolis) Stewart wins the pole for the Brickyard 400 and is strong most of the day, but a late vapor lock problem hampers the #20 and Stewart limps home to a 12th place finish. On the way back to the garage, Stewart allegedly punches Indianapolis Star photographer Gary Mook. The aftermath sees Stewart receive $60,000 worth of fines, as is place on probation by both NASCAR and Joe Gibbs Racing. Also, Stewart still sits in seventh in the standings, 216 points out.

Race 22 � (Watkins Glen) After a weeks full of soul-searching, Stewart rebounds by qualifying third, then winning the final road course of the season.. The season�s third and final win jumps Stewart up to fourth, 104 points behind Marlin.

Race 24 � (Bristol) Stewart finishes second in Michigan, but then lets things get the better of him again during the notorious Bristol night race. First Stewart gets into Jerry Nadeau during a late caution period, damaging the #20 and eventually resulting in a 24th place finish. As we would find out weeks later, Stewart�s post-race walk from the garage to his motor-home did not go incident free.

Race 26 � (Richmond) As teams arrived at RIR for qualifying, word broke about Stewart allegedly shoving a female fan in the crowded garage area following the Bristol race. Stewart would go on to finish 30th in the Looney Tunes 400, his sixth DNF of the season (leading all top-20 drivers) dropping Stewart to fifth in the standings, 118 points out of first.

Race 27 � (New Hampshire) Everyone seems to be jumping on Stewart on a weekly basis now, as the safety worker who assisted Stewart after crashing out of the previous Loudon race, now discloses that he was �punched� by Stewart. All these reports now seem to have Tony railing people with Kermit Washington on Rudy T.-like velocity. Video of alleged incident shows that this was far from the case however. Stewart goes on to finish third that weekend.

Race 30 � (Talladega) What I considered to be the turning point of the season, as Stewart has put himself into position to take over the points lead due to slumps out of other drivers. In the final of what Tony himself terms �our Wild Card� race, Stewart finally turns his fortunes around on a restrictor plate venue and places second. The fourth of what would eventually be five consecutive top-ten finishes vaults Stewart ahead of Jimmie Johnson and into first place in the Cup Standings.

Race 34 � (Rockingham) Stewart struggles with a very ill-handling car much of the day and falls a lap down in the early stages, but the car comes around late and Stewart manages to bring the #20 home to a 14th place finish. But most of Stewart�s competitors would not fare well neither and closest pursuer Mark Martin would fail inspection and be docked with a 25-point penalty. An eighth place finish the following week in Phoenix would mathematically eliminate all the other rivals with the exception of Martin, who Stewart holds an 89-point lead on heading into the season-finale in Homestead.

That left one more mile to go. A 22nd place finish or better assures Stewart of the title, but someone else maybe laying a claim to be the driver to beat for 2003. The story of the Ford 400 is as follows�

HOMESTEAD REVIEW

Kurt Busch, embroiled in a six-way battle to finish third in points, gets his first pole since Labor Day weekend of �01, starting alongside Dale Earnhardt Jr., who has his usual great qualifying run. Greg Biffle was back in the Petty Enterprises #44 for the weekend and was one of the fastest cars all weekend, and qualified fifth. The biggest development though was Tony Stewart, armed with a 89-point lead on Mark Martin, qualifying sixth. Martin meanwhile is stuck with the decrepits back in the 34th position. Back in provisional land was Jeff Gordon starting 37th.

Race amazingly comes off on time after overnight and early morning rains in South Florida. Busch takes the lead at the drop of the green, but Dave Blaney gets loose and into the Turn 1 wall. Jamie McMurray�s day turns bad on the Lap 6 restart when it appears that Matt Kenseth in front of him doesn�t get on the throttle quickly enough. McMurray moves to the left and passes two cars before the start/finish line, resulting in a stop-and-go penalty and putting the #40 a lap down, a penalty McMurray would not quite rebound from. Junior is having his usual early-race strong run and quickly overtakes Busch to set the pace. Tony Stewart is content to hold his position in sixth, although he would slowly fall back throughout the early going. Jeff Gordon pits after the early caution, but is still well back in the field. Dale Jarrett sees a tire go down, and make an unscheduled two-tire stop. Joe Nemechek is running strong in second, his second good run in the final month, and eventually overtakes Junior for the lead (Lap 44). Among those falling a lap down during the long green-flag run was Ryan Newman, fighting an extremely loose condition. Greg Biffle is maintaining his position in fourth, but is the first to pit under green on Lap 54 (a/p adjustment), about ten laps earlier than anticipated. Biffle�s short-pit forces the hand of other drivers to pit early as well, including Dale Jr. (14.3 � no changes), who doesn�t want to repeat last weeks mistake of running out of gas. Air-pressure on Nemechek, chassis/wedge for Newman, massive changes also for Stewart (15.2), Rusty (13.8), Martin 14.7 (three rounds of wedge/ap), Johnson 15.4 (tight condition/chassis), Gordon 16.2, J. Burton 18.5, Busch 15.4 (loose, two rounds/track bar). As usual, it looks like the Rosch cars are getting the best mileage. Junior�s short-pit nets him the lead. Now down to 22 cars on the lead lap, Jeff Gordon being the latest to go a lap down. Caution comes out for debris (Lap 75), a huge break for Dale Jarrett - running fourth and now back in sequence. Also huge for Mark Martin, who was about to go a lap down. Kenseth, Kevin Harvick, and Jimmy Spencer are among those getting two tires, Mark Martin (three rounds), Junior, and Stewart are among those taking two tires. There are a couple problems involving those a lap down pitting on the following lap � Johnny Benson makes contact with a tire while a fire breaks out in the pit of Bobby LaBonte, with the gas man needing treatment for minor burns.

Teammates Matt Kenseth and Jeff Burton make contact on the restart, costing both cars a number of positions. Rusty Wallace and Johnny Benson also make slight contact. Jimmy Spencer (in his last ride with the #41) is now in third, Michael Waltrip (second here last year) is running sixth, Bill Elliott (defending champ) seventh. In the championship battle, Tony Stewart is staying out of harms way in 11th, Mark Martin is up to 17th. McMurray appears to get into the back of Michael Waltrip, causing the #15 to crash out. Jeff Gordon is among those getting a lap back. In an ensuing interview, Waltrip expresses his frustration with the track � and says that there is no margin for error whatsoever. Kenseth takes four tires with a track bar/a-p. Four tires for Martin as well (one round). Nemechek audibles his crew chief and gets a two tire change. Tony Stewart wants two tires, but Crew Chief Greg Zipadelli vetos him and the #20 gets four. A number of other drivers do get two tires, including Rusty Wallace who restarts second. However, Rusty gets up high ever so slighty on the restart, enough in the marbles to get out of control, ultimately making contact with Dale Jr. and losing several positions. The #2 who continue to struggle in this run with an extremely loose condition. Nemechek would build a four second lead, as concern builds in the Dale Jr. camp over a possible miss in the engine. Junior would soon start rambling to his crew chief about needing 'a pepperoni pizza before the store closes...'. Translated, this was a coded message for 'my car's farked and I need to find out what's wrong...' Turns out to be a valve spring problem, ending the #8�s chances of contending on this day. Kurt Busch is sitting in fifth, running loose all day and in need of more forward bite. Greg Biffle is still holding onto a top five position, but gets tapped by Jimmie Johnson and loses several positions. The #44 would not quite be the same after that, as Biffle is still unable to translate fast qualifying/practice times to a strong run throughout an entire Cup distance event. Johnson is suddenly the fastest car on the track, and eventually passes Nemechek for the race lead (Lap 135). Mark Martin finally catches, and passes Stewart for 12th place, as the #20 is losing his handling. Kevin Harvick is having a top-ten run, but has to make an early stop (14.3). Green flag stops begin, Nemecheck 15.6 (a/p), Rusty a much-needed four tire stop (16.2), wedge adjustment for Biffle, Martin 14.5, Stewart 14.7 (big changes), track bar adjustment for Johnson, Jarrett 20.4, Busch 16.0, Nemechek was running third before the exchange of stops but is now back in first, followed by Johnson, Spencer, Jarrett, and Ward Burton. Spencer overtakes Johnson for second place with 100 laps to go. Could it be that Spencer could win in his last race with Ganassi??? Stewart has dropped like a rock to 22nd (a finishing position that would still insure a title) and is in danger of going a lap down, with Martin maintaining his 12th place position. That makes the championship margin 59 points. Matt Kenseth has also rallied to sixth. Spencer�s great run ends as the #41 gets very loose, with Spencer eventually losing control in Turn 1 (seems to be the trouble spot on the track) and destroying the back end, rupturing the fuel cell in a spectacular display of flames. A cameraman can be seen not even flinching as he literally gets toasted by the #41, fortunately he�s wearing a firesuit. Nemechek makes no changes while Dale Jarrett comes out first. This would be a lengthy 10-lap caution, which sees many cars come back in to top off, in hopes of making it till the end. Junior goes a lap down as his crew looks under the hood. Stewart 16.8 (loose in, loose on exit, spring taken out). Martin will restart in the sixth position, while Stewart is in 22nd.

Stewart clears everyone on the restart to get on the tail end of the lead lap, as Jarrett attempts to hold off Nemechek and Busch. Rusty Wallace is now back up in the 12th position. We now get a hilarious post crash interview with Jimmy Spencer, which kind of turns into his Holiday message to the world. �Remember who�s birthday we�re celebrating on Christmas� Spencer would close with. Man, the guy is great. Meanwhile it appears that the Rosch cars, most notably J. Burton and Kenseth are the best bets to make it on fuel. That goes completely out the window as Kenseth blows up with 40 laps to go, bringing out the caution and giving Stewart his lap back. Most of the contenders elect to take on additional fuel and tires at this point. Restart order is Ryan Newman (who stays out), Jimmie Johnson (fuel only), Jeff Gordon (fuel only), Busch, and Nemechek John Andretti (dressed in Petty/Columbia Blue this week) blows up right after the restart to bring out another caution, as Robbie Gordon spins in the #43�s oil. Kurt Busch has already blown past Johnson and Gordon to take second. Nemechek follows through and eventually takes over the second position. Stewart would fall slightly to the 18th position, but is running steady following teammate Bobby LaBonte, who served as Stewart�s test driver after falling out of contention. Martin is up to sixth, but that�s not going to be good enough. At this point Stewart needs only to finish 37th to clinch. Since the current 37th place driver was running seven laps down. Tony basically �clinches� the title with six laps to go.

Lost in the euphoria of the Stewart season-victory celebration was Kurt Busch's third win in five races. With four wins on the season overall, Busch finishes second in that category to Matt Kenseth. On this Sunday, Busch would be followed by Joe Nemechek, Jeff Burton, Mark Martin, and Jeff Gordon. That gives Rosch three of the top four positions. Ryan Newman�s gamble of staying out for the last caution does not work out too bad as he finishes sixth, followed by Bill Elliott, Jimmie Johnson, Elliott Sadler and Bobby Hamilton. A typical top-ten for a season finale with a lot of mid and even lower-level drivers looking to make a statement towards next year. Mike Wallace has one of his best finishes in the #14 with an 11th place finish � AJ Foyt would be nuts to look for another driver for that ride right now. Other notables include Rusty Wallace (14th), Dale Jarrett (15th), Dale Jr. (21st), Jamie McMurray (22nd � could had contended if not for the stop-and-go), Greg Biffle (25th), and Matt Kenseth (40th)

Most importantly, Stewart not only wins the title, but by 38 points over Martin � so Martin�s spring penalty from Rockingham did not come into play. Busch breaks the logjam for third with his win, and finishes 159 points out of first. The rest of the top ten consist of Jeff Gordon (-193), Jimmie Johnson (-200), Ryan Newman (-207), Rusty Wallace (-226), Matt Kenseth (-368), Dale Jarrett (-385), and Ricky Rudd (-477).

THE FINAL RANKINGS

Now is the time for my final top 20 driver rankings for the season. My formula is exactly the same as that for a college football/basketball poll. These are my feelings on each drivers ability as of this moment. This is not to be used as an initial ranking for 2003. My top 20 (point standing in parentheses) is as follows�

1. Tony Stewart (1) � Simply got to give it up to the champ. Manages to pull it off despite having the most DNF�s of any point winner in over two decades, as well as with dealing with a outdated Pontiac. Remove those two negatives and he could be very scary. PREVIOUS KAC RANKING: 1

2. Kurt Busch (3) � Busch is Iowa to Mark Martin�s Ohio State. Translated, KB has been so good lately you don�t think about an early season loss. Three wins in five races in this age of parity really says something. PREVIOUS: 4

3. Mark Martin (2) � Storms up my rankings finishing out with an 10th, 8th, 2nd, 4th, and 4th. Not as good at winning races as teammates Busch and Kenseth. PREVIOUS: 6

4. Jeff Gordon (4) � Really came on with three wins in the second half, barely edging out teammate Johnson in points. PREVIOUS: 5

5. Jimmie Johnson (5) � Hard to separate JimmieJohn from Newman. Ryan gets rookie of the year but I�m going to rank JJ higher due to his three wins v. Ryan�s one. PREVIOUS: 3

6. Ryan Newman (6) � Near-unbeatable in qualifying, but tailed off in the last month as far as races were concerned with finishes of 15th, 10th, 23rd, 18th and 6th. PREVIOUS: 2

7. Matt Kenseth (8) � As fantasy racing owners know all too well, high-risk, high-reward � takes his machine to the brink every weekend. With five wins, would fare much better in a point system that rewarded winners more. PREVIOUS: 9

8. Rusty Wallace (7) � Came away without a victory for the first time since 1985, but still a solid year with only one DNF. PREVIOUS: 10

9. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (11) � Four top three�s in the final six qualifications of the year. And also improved his non-plate runs with three top-fives in the final five races. Needs to prove he can win outside of Daytona and Talladega again. PREVIOUS: 8

10. Dale Jarrett (9) � Despite all the talk of the #88 having the better equipment over lame-duck teammate Ricky Rudd, DJ only finishes one position ahead of the #28 in the standings. PREVIOUS: 11

11. Jamie McMurray � Magical ride for Sterling Marlin�s pinch-hitter came crashing down in final two weeks. Conservative estimates have JamieMac in the top 15 driving the #42 next year. PREVIOUS: 7

12. Jeff Burton (12) � Came away winless, but finished in the top 12 in seven of the final nine races. PREVIOUS: 12

13. Johnny Benson � The best of the �small market� drivers down the stretch, with a win and three top fives in the final nine races. PREVIOUS: 19

14. Ricky Rudd (10) � Held together fairly well even with the breakup of his race team. Managed top fives in Talladega and Martinsville. PREVIOUS: 14

15. Joe Nemechek � Three top five finishes in the final eight races helped Joe keep his #25 with Hendrick for �03. The downside was finishes of 28th, 33rd, 39th, 40th, and 41st. PREVIOUS: 18

16. Bobby LaBonte (16) - No one has slid farther in the past two years, although he was the 2000 Cup Champion. Next year will be critical, does he bounce back or follow his brother into oblivion. The hiring of Crew Chief Fatback McSwain should help. PREVIOUS: 15

17. Bill Elliott (13) � Fell off the face of the earth with five straight finishes of 30th or worse before finally netting a top-10 in Homestead. Bill still ranks however based on two season wins and 13 top-tens. PREVIOUS: 13

18. Michael Waltrip (16) � Qualifying was great throughout the season, but didn�t translate well for the entire race distance with the exception of the plate venues. PREVIOUS: 16

19. Ricky Craven (15) � Lone wolf (Cal Wells) regressed this year, although he did manage four top-tens in the final ten races. PREVIOUS: 17

20. Jeff Green (17) � Only shows up competitively about in about one of every four races. Did manage four top-fives over the course of the season. PREVIOUS: UNRANKED


DROPPED OUT: Blaney (PREVIOUS: 20)

By the numbers, 87 different drivers took the green flag for the 36 Cup events � that�s enough for two races. 27 drivers competed in every race, with Mike Skinner finishing last among those who were in all events, checking in at 31st place. By contrast Sterling Marlin still managed to finish 18th despite missing the final seven races. 18 different drivers reached Victory Lane, 31 had at least one top-five finish, and 42 netted at least one top-ten finish. Kenny Schrader (30th) was the top driver among those who did not get a top-ten. Matt Kenseth had the most wins (5), Tony Stewart the most top-fives (15), while Ryan Newman and Mark Martin tied for the most top-tens (22). Kenseth also had ten finishes of 30th or worse to go along with his wins. Ward Burton finished 25th starting every event despite winning two races, while Kyle Petty finished 22nd while netting only one top-ten all year. Those netting wins in 2001 who failed to do so this year include Steve Park, Rusty Wallace, Jeff Burton, Ricky Craven, and Elliott Sadler

FINAL OBSERVATIONS

These kind of things are cyclical, but Ford easily won this year�s manufacturer championship. The Ford camp was led by Rosch Racing (2nd, 3rd, 8th, and 12th), Penske (6th and 7th), and Robert Yates (9th and 10th). On the Chevy side, Hendrick carried the banner with finishes of 4th and 5th, although the #5 and #25 machines finished far back. Other Chevy disappointments include DEI (12th, 15th, and 31st), as well as RCR (18th, 20th, 22nd). The jury is still out on whether the combo of Harvick, Green, and Robby Gordon will ever make for a good clubhouse. I see 2003 as critical for that outfit, any more slippage and they could be headed for the Petty Enterprise road to oblivion.The addition of the Joe Gibbs cars will be a great addition to the Chevy stable while Newman and Rusty should quickly climb to the top of the Dodge heap.

And then there is the champion. One school of thought is that with title in hand, that Tony Stewart could return to the open-wheel world, where many feel his true love is. It would be a hugh coup for IRL if Stewart should return, while NASCAR would still benefit if Tony cherry-picked some races on that circuit as a part-timer. And although Joe Gibbs would be forced to find a new driver, Bobby LaBonte would probably then get the #1 equipment. In the end, that might actually be a win-win situation for all parties involved.

ANDY HOUSTON AWARD

Before the Golden Benny, there was the Andy Houston Award. On a weekly basis, we have rewarded the driver/team who managed to eliminate themselves from a race seemingly before the green flag even falls. In the spirit of the award, we try to award to an established driver, as opposed to a field-filler who obviously does not have the resources of the regulars. Dave Blaney wins the final award of the year for crashing out on Lap 2. Ward Burton wins the season championship with three 43rd, along with two 42nd place finishes. KAC representatives attempted to present the award, but were rebuffed when Ward threw his heat shields at the trophy, then threatened to shoot at it�