Late in 2003, NASCAR approved a new cylinder head for the Ford engines, so like all other Ford teams the Roush crews are busy building new manifolds and trying to figure out what they can do with this opportunity.

The 97 of Kurt Busch and Wood Brothers Racing-owned 21 (which works closely with Roush) car of Ricky Rudd tried different engines throughout and particularly at the end of the year, as did Kenseth for the season finale. Most of those trials were failures, Roush said at the end of the season, and the crews are working to figure out why.

"Everybody held hands when we did that because we've got to get better for next year," Roush said. "Given the fact we've got a new cylinder head from NASCAR going into next year and we've got a better tail and better nose for the aero function, my prospects and expectations for next year is that we will run as a five-car team better on average next year than we did this year and I think Fords will generally run better, too."

The Roush teams are making use of every bit of information that flows through the five Cup teams right now. The 17 is playing catch up a little, having backed off of taking risks and trying new things with pit, fuel mileage and tire strategy. Of course, the 17 crew has done its part, too. With the championship at hand, they started preparing for 2004 early.

"About two months ago," Kenseth said. "We started building cars and started getting ready already. So, we've got three or four 2004 cars done, and been to the wind tunnel and have been working on them. So, we're already working on it."

Meanwhile, Greg Biffle's No. 16 -- with new sponsorship in tow -- is working on correcting the rookie mistakes that occurred while facing each of the Cup tracks for the first time.

Jeff Burton's No. 99 crew is in limbo, however, building cars for 14 races while the suits work with Jeff Burton and Jack Roush to try to put together sponsorship for the remaining 22 events.

"The key is keeping your team together over the winter," Johnson said.

While he does that, his team -- which has been competitive almost everywhere -- is working closely with Jeff Gordon's No. 24 on the restrictor-plate program.

Terry Labonte's team, which finished 2003 without a single DNF, is trying to do things like they did last offseason. Crew chief Jim Long credited attention to detail during last offseason for much of the success last year.

	Michael Waltrip and the No. 15 team hope to finish stronger in 2004.

The suits are trying to secure sponsorship for the 1 car, too -- at which point it will determine what it would do for a driver in that ride (John Andretti will pilot the 1 at the Daytona 500).

Meanwhile, the rest of the group is playing catchup. With one year in the new Chevys under their belts, the 30 (hoping to find some sense of consistency with just one driver -- Johnny Sauter -- behind the wheel) and the 31 (driven by Robby Gordon) are hoping to catch up in the fuel mileage game.

His teammate Rusty Wallace, meanwhile, is dedicated to trying to sharpen his edge. The team is hard at work trying new and creative setups -- willing to chance losing big to finally get back to winning.

Over at the 9 shop, everything from building new cockpits to fit new driver Kasey Kahne to breaking in a new crew is keeping everyone busy.