Top rookie sets tough standard for future

Mike Harris

Wednesday, Nov. 24, 1999 | 4:15 a.m.

Tony Stewart's rookie performance in the Winston Cup series certainly got the attention of Dale Earnhardt Jr.

"That was the best rookie year ever," said the two-time Busch series champion, who moves up next year with sidekick Matt Kenseth to NASCAR's premier races. "How the heck do Matt and me follow something like that?"

It won't be easy.

Stewart had a rookie-record three victories and a fourth-place finish in the standings - the best by a first-timer in the 29 years of the series. He raised the bar of excellence much higher.

To approach it, the best freshman of 2000 will need to bond with his crew chief the way Stewart did with fellow novice Greg Zipadelli.

"I don't know why we had such great chemistry," Stewart said. "It's either there or it's not. It was there right away with Greg Zipadelli. It was there from our first test session."

Even with good chemistry, it took awhile to reach high gear. Stewart began with finishes of 28th, 12th, 36th and 11th before a pair of sixth-place runs offered a hint of what was to come.

"At the beginning of the season, I was a little nervous and tentative about what I was doing in the car," said Stewart, the 1997 Indy Racing League champion. "All it took was getting in lots of laps and a lot of miles."

He got them with a lot of testing early in the season. And he cherishes the advice from Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Bobby Labonte, who wound up second to Dale Jarrett in the standings.

"My confidence level from the beginning of the year to now is just quadrupled many times over," the 28-year-old Stewart said. "I'm so confident in these cars now."

Zipadelli conceded halfway through the season that inexperience hurt the team early on. They should have won more races, he said after a painful defeat in July, when Stewart dominated in New Hampshire only to lose because of an ill-advised gamble on fuel.

But no one scored more points in the second half of the season.

Stewart's 32-year-old crew chief looks at those numbers as a reason for optimism next season. And he isn't alone. Many in the sport are predicting a championship for Stewart.

"We're pretty excited about next year," Zipadelli said. "We just feel like we've got a little something to look back at now."

What they will see are more numbers that reflect a great season. Stewart was running at the end in all but one of the 34 races. He had 12 top-five finishes and 21 top-10s.

In any other year, it could be argued that Earnhardt or Kenseth would have a chance to be the greatest rookie ever. But in 2000, they've got quite an act to follow.

"I hope nobody expects us to match what Tony did," Kenseth said. "He was amazing.

"I'll be pretty happy if I reach my goals, and they won't be anywhere near what he did."

Even Earnhardt's father, the only driver to go from rookie of the year to series champion, and three-time champion Jeff Gordon didn't come close to matching Stewart's first-year numbers.

Like Stewart, Gordon came into stock car racing with an open-wheel background. Unlike Stewart, he struggled at first, and wound up 14th in the standings as the top rookie of 1993.

He marvels at Stewart's progress.

"He's made the transition to these cars faster than anybody else has," Gordon said. "That's a special gift.

"There's no doubt that Tony is the real thing."

Gibbs, who as coach of the Washington Redskins won three Super Bowls before becoming a car owner in 1992, is not easily impressed. He expected great things from Labonte but said earlier in the season that a top-20 finish in points would have been acceptable from Stewart.

"It's hard to believe what all of the people on this team accomplished this year," Gibbs said. "I think everybody knew Bobby was headed in that direction and was going to be a big star in this sport, but maybe Tony surprised some people with what he did."

The only way he can surprise anybody next season is by failing to have a great one.