The 2003 season: time for a tune-up. (Insider).

Where has the season gone? Has it really been almost nine months since Sterling Marlin climbed out of his car when the Daytona 500 was halted by a red flag? It seems like only yesterday that Jeff Gordon was sporting a goatee, Kevin Harvick was missing at Martinsville, Kurt Busch was mooning Jimmy Spencer, and fans were hurling seat cushions onto the track on a hot July night at Daytona.

Now Tony Stewart is three races from winning his first Winston Cup championship--THE SPORTING NEWS predicted last December he would take the title--and despite what some think, NASCAR won't be disappointed. Better Stewart and his bipolar personality than the vanilla Mark Martin, ...