The face of NASCAR is definite and clear, and yet still not just of one man's mold.

While it is not just the Winston Cup champion -- reigning top gun Tony Stewart wasn't even invited to New York for the public announcement of the new Nextel sponsorship! -- it's also not simply either of the two most marketable stars in the sport today: Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon.

The fact that the seldom-recognized Matt Kenseth leads the points race through 17 races -- along with perhaps the season's most memorable moment occurring between a not-quite-yet-in Kurt Busch and a hardly-ever-at-all-in Ricky Craven -- proves that NASCAR now as much as ever truly is about David more so than Goliath.

	Jeff Gordon, who won seven times in 2001, has won a combined four races the last two years.

The face of NASCAR is Busch and Craven smashing into each other while crossing the finish line at Darlington Raceway; Joe Nemechek and Johnny Benson scoring victories for the little guys; Michael Waltrip ranking a remarkable fifth place in the championship points race; and Terry Labonte winning his first pole position since 1996.

NASCAR is a sport for the everyday man and woman, which is why its face is still firmly molded around the image of 43 race-car drivers, 43 crew chiefs, more than 350 crew men and women and -- literally -- every man and every woman who wakes up to watch some racin' Saturday and Sunday.

This isn't to say that NASCAR doesn't have its superstars.

Jeff Gordon is a four-time Winston Cup champion and still the first man any smart gambler will take in a NASCAR pool. In fact, it was him -- not Stewart -- who was picked as preseason favorite to win this year's title. Because of his enormous success in the 1990s, a run that has continued into the new millennium, he owns a huge chunk of NASCAR Nation's support.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. appeals to two diverse audiences, making him maybe the most marketable figure in the sport today.

He tugs at the hearts of the old Dale Earnhardt fans -- the men and women who vowed never to watch a race again after Big E died on the last lap of the Daytona 500 in 2001, only to be reduced to tears, and pledged their unwavering support once again, when Junior won the next time around at Daytona International Speedway two summers ago. He's a throwback like his father in his racing style and preferences, but he's as modern as it gets when it comes to lifestyle: beer, girls and MTV.

And certainly the rivalry that NASCAR sorely desires -- the one to follow in the footsteps of Petty vs. Waltrip; Waltrip vs. Earnhardt; Earnhardt vs. Gordon -- is Gordon vs. Earnhardt, Part II.

But while Gordon and Junior rank 1-2 in a list of memorabilia sales, neither encompass NASCAR nearly as well as 100,000-plus standing to honor Jerry Nadeau -- a victor only once in his NASCAR career who received an outpouring of support after he wrecked in a practice earlier this year and lay unconscious in a hospital bed before waking up one day and asking his team owner, "What's up, man? What happened?" with the matter-of-factness of assessing a poor finish at the track.

The face of NASCAR is still Dave Blaney and the infectious Bootie Barker, who early on had the inside track on the "I think I can" award when the driver/crew-chief combo got off to a fast start this season. The face of NASCAR is still 13 different winners in 17 races, a preferred option to a 13-time winner in one season any day.

NASCAR is about guys like John Andretti, Brett Bodine, Kyle Petty and Kenny Wallace, drivers who haven't won in forever -- if ever at all -- boasting some of the sport's biggest fan clubs. It's about falling off the pace in a snap, such as guys like Dale Jarrett and Ricky Rudd -- a couple of former teammates who battled for the points lead two seasons ago and are now fighting for a spot in the top 25 this year.

NASCAR is about guys like Mark Martin, who has never won a title in his career but carried himself like a champion in coming oh-so-close last season. It's about guys like Todd Bodine, so accident-prone he gets blamed for wrecks on I-95, but still chooses to live the struggle and scrape enough cash together just to have a car to drive on race weekend. It's about Todd's brother, Geoff, who stared death in the face while rolling around in a fiery crash only to jump at every little opportunity that affords him the thrill of competing on stock-car racing's biggest stage.

And, perhaps more than anything else, NASCAR is about the little boy who balks at a Gordon hat or Junior die-cast only to go nuts over a Ken Schrader autograph. Which is to say that the face of NASCAR just might be in the mirror.

More than the image of a 62-time winner or the son of a seven-time champion, the face of NASCAR is the fan who stays in his seat during rain delays.

Rupen Fofaria covers NASCAR for The Raleigh News & Observer and is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached at rfofaria@espnspecial.com.