Stewart must be good early

Sporting News, The, Dec 24, 2001 by Lee Spencer

If only Tony Stewart could have started last season at Daytona--in July--perhaps he would have won the Winston Cup championship. Well, that's not actually true. In the second half of the season, the final 18 races, Stewart was second in points to Jeff Gordon--by 100. But Stewart did gain four positions in points, from sixth to second, in the second half.

Look at each of Stewart's three Winston Cup seasons, and there is a common thread: He's a slow starter. He knows it and realizes he won't win a Cup championship until he fixes it.

In 1999, when Stewart won Rookie of the Year, his fourth-place finish in points was the highest for a freshman since 1966, when James Hylton finished second. In the second half of '99, Stewart won two of his three races, amassed 252 more points and improved two spots in the standings.

Stewart moved up two positions in the second half of 2000, when he scored four of his six wins. Though he won two races in the first half in 2001, his first victory didn't come until the 11th race, at Richmond. He scored 231 more points in the second half of the season.

"I was surprised where we finished," Stewart says. "We started with the wreck at Daytona (in the 500), and we weren't that strong in the next three of four races." He actually climbed into the top 10 in points after three races, but an engine failure at Atlanta and mediocre finishes at Bristol and Texas made the challenge greater.

But beginning with the April race at Talladega, Stewart posted four consecutive top fives, including the win at Richmond, and firmly planted the No. 20 in the top 10 in points. One of Stewart's strengths is his ability to race for points, and sometimes it seems he turns up the heat only when it is necessary, to which he replies: "I'm driving the car the same way I've always driven since I got to Winston Cup."

So where can Stewart pick up the slack? His average finish (12.56) in 2001 was second only to series champ Gordon (10.9). Stewart's super-speedway numbers were third-best on the circuit, he was the only repeat winner on the short tracks (Richmond, Bristol) and he put a Pontiac in victory lane on a road course (Sears Point) for the first time since 1992.

The answer might not seem obvious, but it is, especially to Stewart.

"We need to get off to a better start in 2002," he says. "If you look at the way the last three years have been for us, the first third of the season we struggled, the middle third we gained momentum, and the last third we ran strong. If we can change the first third and keep the other two the same, then we can make a run for the championship.

"I would say that three years in a row, we screwed around at the beginning of the year, then decided we needed to pick it up a little bit and changed things at the end. For next season, we're looking at making those adjustments earlier."

Stewart, 30, says his happiest moment of 2001 was "leaving Loudon" because he was relieved the season finally was over. It was a year in which Stewart, whose roots are in open wheel, seriously considered saying so long to NASCAR, mostly because of his belief that common sense often takes a back seat to politics.

Still, Stewart says he became more patient behind the wheel in 2001. He insists his line of communication improved with crew chief Greg Zipadelli, and it showed--late in the season. He had seven top rive finishes and 11 top 10s in the final 13 races.

The only question entering 2002 is whether Stewart and the No. 20 team can pick up where they left off. A Cup title is riding on it.

Ready to make plans for the 2002 season? Go to www.sportingnews.com/nascar to check out the 2002 schedules for Winston Cup and the Busch Series.

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