YEAR ENDER: Looking back at auto racing for 2002.

Byline: Dave Kallmann

MILWAUKEE _ Two weeks from now, Daytona 500 testing will be under way, and in a little more than two months, the 2003 stock-car, road-racing, NHRA and CART seasons all will have begun. If we don't look back at the 2002 racing season now, we'll never find the time.

If nothing else, to do so gives us the opportunity to use the phrase "young guns" again. One can't avoid it when reminiscing about the year in Winston Cup.

Perhaps this was the season when NASCAR's top two divisions swapped roles and Winston Cup became a first option for young drivers rather than an ultimate dream some five or 10 years off.

Rookies Jimmie Johnson, 27, and Ryan Newman, who turned 25 after the season, ranked as title contenders, and Kurt Busch, 24, finished his second full year with three …