By Lee Spencer - Sporting News
NASCAR (news - web sites) couldn't ask for a better champion than Matt Kenseth. He's intelligent. He's consistent. He's humble. He's also well-respected by his competitors on and off the track.
That respect is one reason Kenseth was a runaway winner of TSN's Driver of the Year award. He was chosen on 16 of 24 ballots in voting by drivers. Ryan Newman was second with six votes, and Jimmie Johnson had two.
"Whenever you're accepted by your peers or by the people you race against or race with or the people in the garage area give you a compliment or vote for you, it's always extra special," Kenseth says. "It's one thing to be able to accomplish something, but it's another thing to know that the people you race against are happy for you or think you did a great job or think that your team did a good job. That means more to you than anything."
Kenseth won only one race, but he won the points title by 90 over Johnson, who won three races. Kenseth won the title with consistency, finishing with more top 10 finishes (25) than any other driver. Newman had the most victories (eight) -- twice as many as the next-best total. But he finished sixth in points mostly because he didn't finish seven races.
Kenseth often has been compared with his mentor, Mark Martin, because he races clean and smooth. He's methodical and doesn't race irrationally or run over racers to gain position. Kenseth, 31, is not the best qualifier, but he always finds a way to be there at the end.
"When he has an opportunity to win a race based on what's underneath him and the events that occur during a race, he always capitalizes on them and never misses an opportunity," owner Jack Roush says.
Kenseth's victory in the third race of the year, at Las Vegas, vaulted him from sixth to second in points. A fourth-place finish at Atlanta the next week helped him take the points lead from Michael Waltrip and embark on a record-breaking 33-race run at the top.
For Kenseth, that's just the beginning.
In a season of hot-blooded competition, NASCAR's Iceman, Terry Labonte, accomplished what many of his competitors could not. "We won a pole, won a race and finished in the top 10 in points, and that makes for a heck of a year," says Labonte, a two-time Winston Cup champ.
Labonte hadn't won in 158 races when he triumphed in the Southern 500, which helped him finish 10th in points and win the TSN Comeback Driver of the Year award in a poll of his peers.
"It should be the comeback team of the year," Labonte says. "Because it was a total team effort. The guys at the shop did a great job preparing for the season, and we took good racecars to the track. We haven't had this kind of success for several years, so this is pretty exciting."
Labonte also was consistent; he and Kevin Harvick were the only drivers to finish every 2003 race.
Jamie McMurray put the 2003 freshman class on notice in 2002, when he got his first Cup win in his second start, at Charlotte.
Yes, he accomplished that feat with the help of Sterling Marlin's championship-caliber team, but somebody had to wheel the No. 40 Dodge to the finish line.
McMurray, driving the No. 42 in 2003, was the top-finishing rookie in the standings at 13th and was voted TSN Rookie of the Year by fellow drivers. He posted five top fives and 13 top 10s and won the pole for the season finale at Homestead.
"I'm sure I made some people mad, and that's all part of it, but I tried to do my best to respect all those guys and race them when I needed to," says McMurray, 27. "And when I didn't have a car that was capable of racing them, I tried not to do something stupid to cause a wreck or hold someone up."
Mark Martin offered encouragement to McMurray throughout the year, repeatedly telling him he was "doing the right thing."
"I had two or three other drivers tell me the same thing," McMurray says. "The champion said that. That meant a lot to me. So it's cool to have them vote you as Rookie of the Year."
The hard charger who stood out in the minds of his fellow drivers was Ryan Newman, who won TSN's Dale Earnhardt Toughest Driver award. Newman's tenacity was evident in his aggressive driving style and in the meticulous manner with which his team prepared for qualifying and racing.
"Dale Earnhardt was a hero of mine, and that makes this award even more meaningful," he says.
With more wins (eight) and poles (11) than any other driver, Newman had a season that was the antithesis of the sophomore slump. Qualifying was the key -- his 11 poles were by far the most on the circuit. Consistently good starting position helped him secure 17 top fives and 22 top 10s.
Generally, the crew that wins the Union 76 Pit Crew Competition is voted the TSN Pit Crew of the Year award by crew members, and this year was no different.
But the crew voting was a battle. Bill Elliott's No. 9 crew from Evernham Motorsports edged two teams that tied for second: the crew for champion Matt Kenseth's Roush Racing No. 17, last year's winner; and the crew for Michael Waltrip's Dale Earnhardt Inc. No. 15 team.
"It's a great acknowledgement from the competition," pit crew coordinator Greg Miller says. "Our peers are our toughest critics. It's a great accomplishment for our guys."
Elliott's crew evolved early on. Miller eventually settled on the seven men he used at the spring Bristol race, who won a pit award that week.
The crew -- jackman Todd Colburn, front tire changer Jim Pohlman, front tire carrier Nick Bailey, rear tire changer Joe Kruschek, rear tire carrier Eric Wakeland, gasman Rodney Rhodes and catch-can man Steve Lawrence -- was instrumental in Elliott's win at Rockingham and standout runs at Homestead, Kansas and Charlotte.
Miller says the key to the crew's success is having it work out with the crew for Jeremy Mayfield's No. 19.
"They're like a group of brothers," he says. "Considering they've only been together for a short period of time, they will only get better."
Robbie Reiser narrowly edged last year's TSN Crew Chief of the Year, Matt Borland, for this season's honor.
Fellow chiefs and crew members pondered whether to select the crew chief who won eight races and 11 poles -- Borland, with Ryan Newman -- or the one who won the title -- Reiser, with Matt Kenseth.
"It's always special when people take the time to compliment you on the type of job you've done," says Reiser, whose job is much like that of a football coach who calls plays. "This is like taking 20 years to get a college degree because of all the series you have to graduate from before you get to Winston Cup."
Has Reiser, 40, had time to let everything sink in? "Of course I have," Reiser says. "The 2004 season is only 80 days away." Which sums up his never-ending work ethic.
Although it can't quite compare to the satisfaction of winning his first Winston Cup championship after 16 years of blood, sweat and more tears than he'd like to remember, Jack Roush was humbled when he learned he had been chosen TSN's Owner of the Year by fellow owners for the second consecutive season.
"It makes me very proud," Roush said at Homestead, still beaming from the afterglow of the postrace celebration of Matt Kenseth's title.
NASCAR car owners are much like other sports' team owners. But they usually are much more involved in management, choosing personnel, including drivers and crew chiefs, and securing sponsors. "That troop is very important to me, and to have their respect and/or their vote of confidence means a lot," Roush said.
Roush, 61, know his business. He has finished second in points four times with Mark Martin.