DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Tony Stewart sat on a stage at Daytona International Speedway and went on and on about how much he couldn't wait to leave.

It was early January and the Winston Cup champion was anxiously waiting until he could sneak away from this carefree, little beach town and visit, of all places, Tulsa.

In Tulsa awaited the running of the biggest Sprint and Midget car race of the year -- the Chili Bowl. Competing in the Chili Bowl was Stewart's chance to get away from the high-profile life of being a Winston Cup racer.

"Probably one out of 10 will ask how fast we ran at Daytona," Stewart said before his team's second day of testing in preparation for this Sunday's Daytona 500.

"None of them will care. They'll care about running the Chili Bowl. They'll treat me just like I do the next guy and the next guy and the next guy. It's probably one of those situations where I just enjoy being one of the guys. Being a quote-unquote 'star' in the Winston Cup Series -- that part isn't why I came here. It's part of what's happened, but I don't thrive on that."

It seemed, at that moment, that Stewart had not changed very much since winning his first Winston Cup title.

Stewart has been a reluctant star on the Winston Cup stage ever since entering the circuit in 1999, often hiding from the media and, many times, sneaking away from tracks before Sunday races to compete in local Saturday-night features. In fact, up until last season -- when a post-race shoving incident with a photographer at Indianapolis in August led Stewart's team owner, Joe Gibbs, to ban Stewart's short-track excursions -- that's where you'd see Stewart be himself: A generally happy person sporting a smile and always quick to extend a hand.

Hardly would the other Stewart -- the crankier version who has to deal with sponsor, fan and media appearances at the professional stock-car racing level -- come out.

Stewart's disdain for being the focus of attention off the track caused some to question what type of champion he would be. Could he handle the duties that come with being the champ? Could he handle the responsibilities? Would he make a good ambassador for the sport?

That question was summarily discarded when Stewart returned to Daytona earlier this month after running in the Chili Bowl and, despite having several other appearances and obligations to fulfill, went out of his way to put Denny Darnell at ease.

"Hey, Denny," Stewart shouted to Darnell, the man responsible for arranging almost every major appearance by a Winston Cup champion. "If you need anything else, just give me a shout."

Darnell's face lit up like a short track at feature time.

"Tony has been a great champion," said Darnell, senior manager of Sports Marketing Enterprises, which is a part of Winston Cup corporate sponsor R.J. Reynolds. "I shouldn't say it's been a surprise, because it's something you expect out of a champion. There's just something about that title -- champion. It forces you to rise to another level. And Tony's done that. Everything we've asked him to do, he's gone out of his way to do."

It seemed, at that moment, that Stewart had in fact not changed much since winning his first title. He's still that generally happy racer ready to extend a hand -- but now he's bringing that attitude to the major tracks, too.

Coming through in New York
The first important obligation for a Winston Cup champion is to make himself available to the national and local media in New York -- where NASCAR holds its Winston Cup banquet in December.

When Stewart was rounding out his bid for the title a month earlier, he had dodged the media more than once, saying he needed time to concentrate on racing.

	Tony Stewart's usual scowl has been replaced by a smile so far this season.

Still, Darnell and Co. insisted they were not worried.

Turns out, they had no reason to, anyway.

"Everywhere he's gone he's been great," Darnell said. "There's been no complaints."

That, despite the fact that the man most of these outlets had put requests in for one year before was Jeff Gordon. And Gordon is famous for his ability to handle these things in stride.

"It would be wrong to expect that out of Stewart -- Jeff is Jeff Gordon and, well, there's nobody like him," Darnell said. "But Tony brings something different to the role, and that mix of personalities is what brings all these fans to the sport."

Stewart said he's actually enjoyed the appearances a little.

"I never would have thought it would be this fun, but it has," he said.

Nice to meet you, Tony
Stewart's troubled past has been much publicized -- mostly because every time one incident would pass another would arise soon after.

But Stewart is sick of reading about it in the newspapers and has gotten to the point of not even watching racing shows on television because he's so tired of watching the replays of his lowlights.

For a guy who's almost always in control in a race car, he just finds it disconcerting not always having control out of it.

"I know who I am as a person and what 90 percent of (the fans) think isn't who I am as a real person," he said. "The direct link from me to those people, 98 percent of it, is through (the media). It's about how much you guys want to focus on it and how much of it you guys want to let go. Every time that they show something on TV or they read something in the paper about something that happened three years ago that hasn't pertained to anything that we've done in the last year -- you guys are reminding them."

Stewart took matters into his own hands over the offseason.

While playing pool at a local Indiana billiards hall, Stewart was approached by three guys who weren't fans of his. He could tell right away that they didn't like him.

"They came up and said, 'We don't like you,' Stewart said.

Stewart laughed, which at first made the three a little angry. Then, he just acted like himself.

"They spent 20 minutes around us and you would have thought that we were all best friends by the time they left," Stewart said. "It happens every time we get an opportunity to spend time with somebody like that. The thing is, you can't spend it with four or five million people like that and show them who you really are, but those three cases alone were probably one of the highlights of my offseason -- being able to sit there and show three people who I really am and see how they changed and how their attitude changed toward me."

The incident also taught Stewart a little lesson. The more time people see him on camera, the more they might get to know him. So these added obligations that come with being champion might actually improve his reputation.

Making sacrifices
Even if there were no other incentive for Stewart to make these appearances than simply to promote NASCAR, the driver of the No. 20 Chevrolet would do it. In fact, he's making changes to his schedule to accommodate the added demands.

"I'm just trying to cut back a little bit," he said. "I ran myself into the ground last year, in a lot of different ways. Just scheduling-wise I ran myself in the ground a lot. I've cut back on some of the extra races I'm running this year. I'm cutting back on some of my appearances this year and just trying to streamline my schedule a little bit more to where it gives me some time to get away and hit a reset button a little more often and try to do a little preventive maintenance this year."

	“	We're going to try to win every race like we do every week. There is really nothing different there, but I think my mindset is different about it. I don't feel like I have to prove something to the world. ”
		— Tony Stewart

That preventative maintenance is relaxation -- something Gibbs knew Stewart needed last season. That's why he put the ban on the short-track racing. He wanted Stewart to get away from racing, and any other stresses, when he was away from the Winston Cup tracks. That way, he'd show up a little less wound up and a little less likely to set off one of the many storms that passed through last season.

This year, despite getting his "hall pass" back to visit the short tracks, he said he's going to take it upon himself to make sure he doesn't spread himself to thin.

"I'm going to cut into my fun time, but it's going to make my life a little easier, too," Stewart said. "It's less opportunity for the small things that happen -- and sometimes big things that happen -- to occur. By limiting the amount of exposure I have to those opportunities, hopefully it will make my life a little bit easier from that standpoint.

"I'm just trying to be smart and look out for the team. Those guys went through a lot last year. We all did. I'm just trying to make things a little more efficient, a little easier, to where those guys aren't worrying about, 'Well, what happens if he has a bad day?' It just makes life a little easier for all of us. I'm just trying to look outside my circle and say, 'There are more people involved here and what can I do to help the race team?'"

Let's do it again
Stewart laughs when he thinks about the big to-do over what life would be like with Stewart as the champion.

"My life hasn't changed much," he said. "And this was supposed to be some big uprooting of my life."

It's been so easy to handle, in fact, Stewart is ready to do it again next year. That is, if he can repeat as champion.

After winning it last season, when Stewart came out and finished last in the first race of the season and experienced five other Did Not Finishes, the entire team is feeling pretty good about their chances in 2003.

"If we can cut the bad luck in half, we could run away with it," joked Stewart's crew chief, Greg Zipadelli.

Stewart knows he can't control many of the things which are going to slow his season down through the course of the next eight months. But having won the championship already takes some of the pressure off of him, and has eliminated the feeling that he needs to try to control those things.

That's resulted in a light-hearted approach to the season for Stewart, who still remains focused and hungry.

"My goal is to have fun this year -- strictly to have fun," Stewart said. "If we win another championship with it, great. If we don't win, as long as we have fun and we know that every week we gave 100 percent, we'll take exactly whatever it gives us.

"If that is 10th in points, then we'll take 10th this year. But, we're going to try to win every race like we do every week. There is really nothing different there, but I think my mindset is different about it. I don't feel like I have to prove something to the world."

After all, he's already proven so much.

Rupen Fofaria covers NASCAR for The Raleigh News & Observer and is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.