It's a wrap. The 2003 season is now in the books and the finale in Miami provided plenty of drama. Awesome Bill fell just short of two in a row and Bobby Labonte was the beneficiary of his bad luck. NASCAR said goodbye to several good friends and tires were the talk of the day.

Growing pains: The newly configured Homestead-Miami Speedway produced speeds in excess of 180 mph, the new asphalt had tremendous grip and when the initial green flag waved the track temperature was 110 degrees. This combination could explain why there was at least a half dozen tire related problems during Sunday's Ford 400.

"A new racetrack, a lot of speed, a lot of grip, a lot of heat. When you add those things everything is right on the edge," explained Jeff Burton. "If you're a little excessive on camber, a little low on air, anything can cause a problem."

Goodyear engineered a tire specifically for this race. However, because of the time consuming construction and curing period Goodyear couldn't conduct an on-track test until late October, less than a month before the race.

In addition to their normal practice schedule, teams did have an additional test session Wednesday. Still, there may not have been enough time to adapt to the new tire and unique track conditions.

"It may have been that we hadn't run on this tire yet and we hadn't figured it out yet," said Jeremy Mayfield. "It just seemed like it was a little inconsistent on what was going on."

Farewell, good friend: Since 1971 there have been more than 350,000 laps, nearly 1,000 races and 15 different champions. But through it all there has been just one title sponsor of NASCAR's premier series -- R.J. Reynolds and its Winston brand.

In February the tobacco company announced it was bowing out of the sport at the conclusion of 2003. On Sunday, after 33 seasons, Winston said goodbye.

"It's kind of sad," said RJR Winston Cup director Rich Habegger. "We kind of kept putting it off saying, 'until November we're still around, we're still around.' Then all of a sudden it hits you like this was the last one. So, it's hard. We're gonna miss a lot of our friends but this was just something that had to be done and we're all gonna move on."

The last hurrah: Winston wasn't the only long time supporter of the sport who made its exit Sunday. Unocal 76 -- the official fuel supplier of NASCAR for more than four decades -- will be replaced by Sunoco next season. General Motors will consolidate its efforts in 2004 and will remove Pontiac from its NASCAR roster. And RPM2Night, a mainstay of the sport since 1995, aired its final episode.

	Kenseth

Wisconsin pride: With Matt Kenseth winning the Winston Cup championship, Travis Kvapil claiming the Craftsman Truck Series title and Johnny Sauter helping give Richard Childress Racing the Busch Series owner's title, Wisconsin has a lot to be proud of. All three were born, raised and learned to race in the Badger State.

"I think the cool thing about Wisconsin is that you can race three or four nights a week at different types of racetracks weekly," said Kenseth. "There are different sizes and shapes of racetracks, and I think the best thing that helps you learn how to race up there is the fast cars always have to start in the back. In the South, whenever I've raced, the fast car is on the pole and a lot of times you'll see a guy start on the pole for a 40-lap feature and he'll lead every lap. Whereas, up there, if you get a fast time you usually have to start 12th to 14th and you've got to learn how to pass cars and work traffic and try to get to the front."

Thumbs up: To International Speedway Corporation for recognizing that the Homestead Miami Speedway needed to be improved. They invested $10 million and the results were tremendous. The progressive banking created instant results On Sunday, there were 21 lead changes, two more than the record set in 2001.

Thumbs down: To Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. Granted, they faced a tremendous challenge developing a tire for this race but the unusually high number of tire related incidents Sunday was alarming.

	Elliott

Hard luck award: Bill Elliott led 189 of 267 laps Sunday, but faded from first to eighth when he experienced a heartbreaking tire problem a half lap from the finish and a would-be victory..

Good fortune award: Bobby Labonte led just one lap Sunday but it was the most important one. Labonte was the beneficiary of Elliott's misfortune; he capitalized to pick up his second win of 2003.

New York State of mind: Bill Elliott and Terry Labonte are heading to New York. Both finished among the season's final top 10 and consequently earned spots on the Waldorf Astoria stage during the final Winston Cup Award's banquet on Dec. 5.

	Jarrett

Elliott, who finished ninth, has been absent from the top 19 since 1997. Labonte, tenth, hasn't finished in the top 10 since 1998.

Conversely, Rusty Wallace (14th) finished outside the top 10 for the fist time since 1992. Dale Jarrett (26th) snapped a seven-year string of consecutive top-10 finishes.

Mike Massaro covers NASCAR for ESPN and ESPN.com.