The key to winning the Winston Cup championship is more than just a talented driver with a lead foot and nerves of steel.

It's also more than having a crew chief who is always planning calculated pit strategies in search of even the slightest smidgen of advantage over competitors, or a crack pit crew that gets a driver on and off pit road as quick as possible.

In theory, a championship team is supposed to be built from the ground up. But in reality, it's built from the top down. The foundation is only as strong as the top level. In essence, the roof goes on and is in place before the rest of the organizational structure is built.

Don't believe me? Do you think Tony Stewart would have won the title had it not been for the stoic, silent leader that pays the bills and puts the right people in the right place to get the most out of them and their talents?

He's also the same guy who single-handedly prevented Stewart from being fired in August, when it appeared Stewart would be first in the unemployment line rather than atop the standings at the end of the season after his celebrated run-in with a photographer at Indianapolis.

And, shortly after accepting the championship trophy after the season finale at Homestead, Fla., Stewart made sure one of his first duties as new champ was to give credit where it was due.

"There's no way we would have won the championship this year without this man," Stewart said, pointing to team owner Joe Gibbs.

The fact of the matter is, as NASCAR has evolved to new heights of popularity and technical superiority over the last 10 years, the team owner has taken on a more significant role of prominence than ever before.

Consider this: Only the so-called "super teams" owned by high-profile businessmen such as Rick Hendrick, Richard Childress, Robert Yates and Joe Gibbs have won a championship since 1993. During that period, Hendrick has won the most titles (five), four by Jeff Gordon (1994, '97, '98 and 2001) and one by Terry Labonte (1996). Childress (both by the late Dale Earnhardt in 1993 and '94) and Gibbs (Bobby Labonte in 2000 and Stewart this season) have each won two titles, and Yates won in 1999 with Dale Jarrett.

	Richard Childress won six Winston Cup championships with Dale Earnhardt.

About the only super team that hasn't won a championship -- although it's come close several times, most recently with Mark Martin finishing second to Stewart this season -- is the four-car (expanding to five next season) operation owned by Jack Roush. And, judging from the way Martin and teammates Kurt Busch and Matt Kenseth ran in 2002, don't be surprised if Roush finally joins that elite fraternity a year from now.

The last non-super team to win the championship was the independent organization led by the late Alan Kulwicki, who captured the crown in 1992, only to tragically be killed in a plane crash less than six months later while flying to Bristol, Tenn.

Ironically, Kulwicki's championship was a significant turning point in NASCAR history. Up to that point, sure, there had been significant team owners like Petty Enterprises and Junior Johnson and Raymond Beadle. But, for the most part, many of the championships were claimed by teams owned by run of the mill guys, certainly with nowhere near the resources that today's top owners possess.

Before the Yateses, Hendricks, Childresses and Gibbses were guys like Cotton Owens, Billy Hagan, Bill Gardner, Nord Krauskopf, L.G. DeWitt, Bondy Long, Carl Kiekhaefer, W.G. Holloway Jr., Rod Osterlund, Raymond Parks, Julian Buesnik, Herb Thomas and Ted Chester.

It's likely that none of those owners would have ever captured a title in today's modern age. Back when they called the shots, they weren't concerned with things like $15 million sponsorships, or building up to 30 cars to use through the course of a season, or having 200-plus employees within their operation. In many cases, a "team" consisted of the owner, his family members, a driver and maybe a handful of friends who served as impromptu pit crews.

The day of the independent owner winning the championship is over. It's doubtful that you'll ever see another guy like Kulwicki come out of nowhere to take a short-staffed, under-funded operation from the bottom to the top.

But you will continue to see big-name owners like Gibbs, Hendrick, Childress, Yates -- and Roush, eventually -- continue to be the key players in the sport. The reason is simple: not only can they attract more than adequate funding to run their teams, they have a knack of being able to find the right people for the right jobs. Being an owner today is more than just being a money man or chief team supporter.

"Being an owner today is a lot different than when I got into Winston Cup as a team owner back in 1992," Gibbs said. "I never would have imagined back when I got into it that today we'd be dealing with such large amounts of capital, outlay, huge sponsorships plus the number of personnel you have to hire.

"But, it's not about me as an owner. It's about all the people we have in our operation, just like over at Yates, Hendrick, Roush and Childress. People are the most important thing, and its getting the right people into the right positions that wins you championships. You might have a guy with all the talent in the world, but if he's not in the right position on your team, it's going to make it that much harder to succeed and win."

Gibbs obviously knows a little about winning, having earned three Super Bowl championships while a coach in the NFL before he "retired" to become a Winston Cup team owner, an occupation that can be as demanding -- if not more so -- than being an NFL head coach.

	“	It's not about me as an owner. It's about all the people we have in our operation. ... People are the most important thing, and its getting the right people into the right positions that wins you championships. You might have a guy with all the talent in the world, but if he's not in the right position on your team, it's going to make it that much harder to succeed and win. ”
		— Joe Gibbs

With two championship trophies in three years, Gibbs is at the peak of his game in NASCAR, yet he'll be the first to admit that savoring his latest feat, Stewart's title, will be short-lived. He says there's a great deal of work to be done in the next 2½ months heading into Daytona to try and bring Labonte's program back to the level that it was when it won the title in 2000. That means new people, positions and philosophies -- as well as a new Chevrolet.

"We can celebrate for maybe a week or so, but then it's right back at it, working on next season," Gibbs said. "It's like the NFL, it never ends. Celebrations, unfortunately, are short-lived; you always have to start getting ready for next year or next season. It's getting there that's the hard thing and takes the longest amount of time. It's just the nature of the game."

Gibbs and the rest of his organization have already begun working for next season. Why, just one day after Stewart won the title at Homestead, he was back on the track, testing for next season's opener. Likewise, a significant overhaul is taking place in Labonte's No. 18 camp.

"The key to being a successful owner is putting all the pieces and people into the right place -- or, at least you try your best to do so," Gibbs said. "Sometimes you're right on target, and sometimes you miss. When you're on target, you reap the rewards, with the ultimate being a championship. When you miss, you go back and start over and try again.

"That's where we're at right now. We're celebrating Tony's championship, but also already starting to work to help get Bobby back up to where he belongs."

That's why Gibbs will enjoy the notoriety of being the owner of this year's championship team at Friday's annual awards banquet in New York City. Yet, after all the smiles, photographs and congratulations are done, Gibbs goes back to his role as the glue that holds everything together.

In a way, being a team owner is like a mother. You have to make sure your family is well taken care of and you work hard to make sure everyone reaches their full potential and succeeds. That's where owners like Gibbs, Hendrick, Childress and Yates stand out -- their record of championships in the last decade proves it.

But, at the same time, you know what they say about mothers: their work is never done.

Jerry Bonkowski covers NASCAR for ESPN.com.