Stewart

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Typical start for a defending NASCAR Winston Cup champion: arrive at Daytona after an off-season filled with personal appearances and get off to a slow start in the Daytona 500.

That's not what Tony Stewart has in mind in Sunday's 45th running of the biggest race of the NASCAR season.

Stewart never got a chance to put a decent lap on the board after his engine blew up on the warmup lap Monday. That meant he had to start at the back of the field in Thursday's second Gatorade 125 qualifying race.

Fear not for Stewart. All that did was make his race more interesting.

Stewart finished fifth in his qualifier and would have started 10th in Sunday's Daytona 500. But after Rusty Wallace's fourth-place finish was disqualified because of a carburetor violation, Stewart moved up to eighth on the starting grid as he tries to get his first victory in the American racing classic.

"This morning, I think that is the best my car has driven," Stewart said after Friday's practice session. "I think the last two days have been really, really big for us. The step we made between the final practice and the race was a big step and then I think what we had yesterday to today's practice was another big step. We just keep gaining on it, I think."

Stewart entered last year's Daytona 500 as one of the favorites because of how quickly he has excelled at restrictor-plate racing. But he was the first to drop out after his engine broke.

He had another engine problem Monday but didn't let that ruin his chances for a decent starting position for the 125s.

"Trust me, when I walked into the garage and when I walked into media day, I felt like I was in the same position I was in I was last year," Stewart said. "I'm one of 50 guys that showed up to race this year. I was the champion for last year, and that was 2002. To me, once the championship was over, that was it."

Stewart is known for his acerbic nature, especially when it comes to questions he thinks are stupid. Asked what it would mean to win the Daytona 500 now that he has a Winston Cup title, he replied, "It's probably the same as it was before I won a Winston Cup championship and before I won three USAC championships and an IRL championship.

"Any win at any big race is a big accomplishment. It's big in anybody's career. It's big for me, it's big for Dale Earnhardt Jr., it's big for Kurt Busch. It's big for anybody in the series. It's big, period. That's the one question I wish everybody would quit asking -- 'What's it going to mean?' Well, shoot. We don't come here just because we want to ride around and hang out at the beach for 10 straight days. We all want to win because it's a big race."

It's that type of feisty attitude that impresses his team owner, Joe Gibbs. The former coach of the Washington Redskins won three Super Bowls. He didn't accomplish that with a group of milk drinkers, either.

Gibbs believes Stewart has those same qualities as a driver.

"Tony wears his emotions on his sleeve, and what he thinks, you are going to get," said Gibbs, whose other driver, Bobby Labonte, won the 2000 Winston Cup title. "He reminds me of a player I had on the Redskins, Gary Clark. He was very vocal. I had one meeting with Gary Clark and called him in and I said, 'I have to tell you something -- I hate you from Monday to Saturday, but I love you on Sunday.' Gary was the same kind of person as Tony.

"Both our drivers get emotional. They get upset when they don't win. They aren't in it for the money. They want to win and are both very competitive."

Stewart isn't ready to mellow, but he is able to keep his accomplishments in perspective. That is why he won't let any single race take precedence over the battle for the championship.

"I think it has given me a way of taking all the races that we run and averaging them out and try not to put any more emphasis on any one race than any of the others," Stewart said. "As much as I'd like to put more emphasis on this race, in all reality, it is one of 36, so I'm trying to keep that attitude about it."

And if Stewart never wins the Daytona 500, he's not going to let that adversely affect his career.

"If I don't win the Daytona 500, it's not going to put me on suicide watch, if that's what you're asking," Stewart said. "There are a lot of races I haven't won yet. There are still a lot of races I do want to win. If I don't win all the races that are on my list, it doesn't mean that I'm going to say, `I had an unsuccessful career.' I think I've got to focus on the ones that I did win. I'm pretty secure in feeling that if it all ended right now, I'm pretty happy with the way my career has been."

Of course, those accomplishments will look a little more impressive if Stewart adds a Daytona 500 victory.