The big story in the NHRA's Top Fuel class in 2002 was expected to be the same as last year's. Would it be defending champion Kenny Bernstein or runner-up Larry Dixon winding up with the championship.

While Dixon and Bernstein still command the headlines, especially since Dixon's huge points lead has shrunk dramatically in the last three races, another driver is becoming the center of attention after beginning his sophomore season in a rut.

Darrell Russell, last year's Rookie of the Year, has won the last two national events and the first two of the Western Swing. After beating Cory McClenathan in Denver's final round and Bernstein in the rain-delayed Seattle finale, Russell is now in position to sweep all three western races, and that would duplicate the three-bagger his car owner, Joe Amato, pulled off in 1991 on his way to that year's title.

Russell's crew chief, Wayne Dupuy, came aboard at the season's fourth race in Las Vegas after a wild series of events overtook the team following the Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla. Previous crew chief, Jimmy Walsh, and several crew members left the team just as the Amato operation arrived at the Strip following in incident enroute in which their transporter suffered two broken axles and had to be towed to the race.

At that point, Russell had yet to win a round after finishing sixth in the points in his rookie season. Dupuy, whose resume includes stints with Freddy Neely, Jerry Toliver, Johnny Gray, Don Lampus and McClenathan, has now begun to blossom into a formidable tuner and has given the team three wins in 2002, taking them from 13th in the points to fifth since April.

"No question, Wayne has been the big difference," Russell said. "He has really hit upon a combination that keeps getting us down the racetrack and that's the key to winning in Top Fuel. We probably won't run in the 4.50s every time but we've shown that you have to be consistent to win and that's the way Wayne approaches it."

Despite the fact its dragster continues to run on the older Goodyear tire, which was superceded by a new rubber formula earlier this year, the team has been able to perform in varying conditions over the past two events without difficulty.

In Denver, track temperatures were well in the 130-degree range while cool, cloudy weather in Seattle kept track temps under 100 degrees. In both cases, Dupuy's tuning touch and Russell's excellent driving (he beat McClenathan on a holeshot in the Denver final) have worked the kind of magic one might not have expected from this team after its sluggish start.

"We know that the 2002 championship is a little out of reach at this point," said the 33-year-old driver who won his first start in a Top Fuel car in Pomona, Calif., last year. "But we think that we're building the kind of team that will definitely be able to challenge next year and that's exciting. But right now, we just want to keep winning rounds, winning races, and doing what we need to do to stay consistent."

As qualifying begins at the FRAM Autolite Nationals in Sonoma, Calif., this weekend, Russell, Dupuy and the team will be hoping to keep their remarkable string alive and serve notice that 2003 could be even bigger than 2002.