Year in Review: Joe Gibbs Racing

The marathon-like Winston Cup Series schedule inevitably doles out lofty peaks and lowly valleys to its teams and drivers, making consistency the truest measure of team success at NASCAR's highest level.

	Tony Stewart and Bobby Labonte combined for four victories in 2003. Credit: Autostock

How's this for team consistency?

Doesn't get a whole lot more consistent than that.

Moreover, all four of the team's victories came at superspeedways, and nearly half -- 11 of their combined 24 top-fives -- came at 1.5-mile tracks, a signature strength for the JGR organization.

Despite JGR's on-track success, the most important news out of the Gibbs camp this year may be the new contracts signed by Labonte and Stewart. Stewart's new deal, one of the biggest stories of the season, secures his position with JGR through 2009. Labonte, meanwhile, signed a contract to drive the No. 18 Chevy through 2008.

"It gives you a chance to work on other things to make the program better at all costs," Labonte said in October. "If you get something floating out there and everyone's wondering whether the driver is going to be there or not, that's not a good situation.

	Tony Stewart captured victory at Lowe's Motor Speedway in October. Credit: Autostock

"It could be a split decision within the team, but I think if you have a solid base and your performance is good...if you are going to be there your performance has to be there with it, or if not, you need to be figuring out how to get better or not be there.

"If your performance is good and you're continuing to try and get better, I think that's a big key. It will help you and your program to get better for all the other races."

Stewart ranked as high as second in the standings early in the year before a three-week span that included a 26th-place finish at Bristol, a blown engine and subsequent 34th-place effort at Texas and a 25th-place finish at Talladega dropped him to ninth.

The motor wasn't all he lost at Texas.

ALSO  •  Driver Page: Tony Stewart  •  Driver Page: Bobby Labonte  •  Join Bobby Labonte's Fan Club  •  Team Page: Joe Gibbs Racing  •  2003 Year in Review Archive

In an unprecedented move by the sanctioning body, NASCAR confiscated Stewart's entire primary car during pre-weekend inspection after it failed the "X measurement" test, which is one method of determining the placement of the car's decklid in relation to the centerline of the chassis.

It didn't get better quickly. Following three straight finishes of 40th or worse at California, Richmond and Charlotte, Stewart plummeted to 20th in the standings.

But three top-five finishes in the next six races, including the season's first victory at Pocono and a runner-up effort at Chicago, clawed him back into the top 10.

Stewart's see-saw season continued from there as he teeter-tottered in and out of the top 10, but six consecutive top-four runs, including a win at Charlotte in October, he solidified his ranking in standings.

	Bobby Labonte won the season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Credit: Autostock

Labonte ascended as high as fourth near the season's midpoint, and remained there for seven consecutive weeks, but a seven-week stretch that included four finishes of 25th or worse -- including a fiery crash at Chicago in July -- dropped him to ninth.

Labonte won early on, dominating the Bass Pro Shops 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway before out-dueling Jeff Gordon late. He won the season-ender at Homestead after Bill Elliott blew a right-rear tire on the final lap.

He closed the year with four top-10s in the final six races, including two top-fives in the final four weeks, to finish eighth overall.

Both teams are looking forward to 2004.

"Unfortunately, I think we have to change all the bodies, so all the guys will be looking forward to that over the winter -- I say that sarcastically because that's not what they wanted to do," Labonte said. "It's job security, but they'll do that and we'll work on getting the balance as good as possible with the spoiler being different for next year.

"We want to keep it at a comfortable level, like where I'm at now and was at a couple of years ago. We might have to go try that a couple places and see what the wind tunnel tells us. We've already looked at testing a road course and doing just a couple of different things that we haven't tried.

"Maybe we'll do a couple of short-track tests that we might could learn some things from and some geometry stuff and obviously, fuel mileage."