NASCAR's 21st century man - Uncovering the Past - Tony Stewart - Brief Article

Auto Racing Digest, April-May, 2003

IN OUR 2000 PREVIEW ISSUE [MAY 2000], we declared that there was a new NASCAR for the new millennium. Our issue pegged a group of young guns hell bent on doing things their own way, not content with waiting their turn for success, and comfortable with the series' new network affiliation and marketing power--and our cover star was Tony Stewart.

In our Winston Cup preview, we called Stewart and his Joe Gibbs Racing partner Bobby Labonte, "the most potent combination in the game today." In 1999, Labonte finished second in points--the best performance of his career. We said that "much of [Labonte's] improvement was attributed to the arrival of Stewart, who not only gave Gibbs the benefits that come from a two-car operation, but also provided a competitive push."

In 1999, Stewart changed the notion of what a Winston Cup rookie could be. He immediately impressed, taking the outside pole at the Daytona 500, and eventually won three races. Stewart finished fourth, then the best rookie performance of all time. We stopped short of declaring that Stewart would be a title contender in a matter of years (as we did with, um, Jeff Burton), but we did say that he would be "one of the most compelling stories of the 2000 campaign."

We figured instead that Stewart's legacy would be opening the door to a. new breed of young driver--and, in part, we were right. The defending Winston Cup champion still has a lot of racing left in him--and his own accomplishments could outstrip this trend--but his lack of respect for the typical Winston Cup learning Curve and ridiculous amount of talent made young drivers suitable investments for top teams. In 2000, it was Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Matt Kenseth leading the youth movement. In later years, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, and others.

Fittingly, Stewart has become the first of the new guard to capture a title--and looks set to contend again in 2003.