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That was the most by a champion in 20 years, or since Darrell Waltrip outweighed eight DNFs in 1982 with 12 wins.
Stewart, the 25th driver to win the Winston Cup title got off on the wrong foot when his Pontiac blew up in the opening laps of the Daytona 500, leaving him last in the standings after the opening race.
Only three races later, Stewart had scored the first of his three victories this season, and was back in the top five in the standings.
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The rest of his season pitched jaggedly between on-track highs and off-track lows that resulted in him ending the year on probation from both NASCAR and his sponsor.
Stewart's off-track behavior steals headlines
While Stewart's on-track demeanor remained gritty and determined, he was involved in a couple off-track spats with the media, including the shoving match at Indianapolis that resulted in his $60,000 in fines between NASCAR and Home Depot, as well as probation.
Stewart was also accused, but not prosecuted for assaulting a fan after the Bristol night race and was accused of shoving an emergency worker at New Hampshire, which also proved to be a groundless charge.
On the race track, Stewart was 301 points behind leader Sterling Marlin after race No. 10 at California. Even after race No. 20 Stewart was still 256 points behind then point leader Sterling Marlin.
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| Tony Stewart Credit: Autostock |
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But Stewart has proven in just four years that the stretch run of the season is his time, and in 2002 he did it again. In the final 17 races he had one of his two Bud Poles, a win and eight other top-fives on his way to a series leading 15 top-five finishes.
When Stewart finished 18th in the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, it secured a 38-point margin over Mark Martin. It was Stewart's only finish outside the top 15 in the final 10 races of the season.
Labonte struggles to 16th-place finish
On the other hand No. 18 Interstate Batteries Pontiac driver Labonte, for the second straight season, saw his key statistics all ratchet in the wrong direction. His wins fell from two to one, Bud Poles from one to none, top-fives nine to five and top-10s 20 to seven.
In the most alarming occurrence, Labonte fell from sixth to 16th in the standings. By the end of the season, 2000 championship winning crew chief Jimmy Makar -- who had built Gibbs' stock car empire from scratch in 1992 -- had agreed to step back from Labonte's crew chief to an administrative role for 2003.
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| Bobby Labonte Credit: Autostock |
Highly regarded Michael McSwain steps into the position as Labonte's crew chief and will try to rebuild his driver's confidence to the point that he can become a week-to-week challenger at the front of the field, again.
Labonte won the spring short track race at Martinsville, Va., but that was one of only fives he led all season.
Gibbs' team is also working on a switch from Pontiacs, which it has used for six seasons, back to Chevrolets, which it ran for the first four years of its existence.
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