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Article: From Last to First; Tony Stewart battles his way to the 2002 Winston Cup championship.(Racing)
- Article from:
- AutoWeek
- Article date:
- November 25, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Crain Communications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: AL PEARCE
Tony Stewart was a dead-last 43rd in the Daytona 500. He was 29th or worse in three of his next nine starts and stood seventh in points midway through the 36-race season. He had three more 30th-or-worse finishes the second half of the year... but still won the Winston Cup by 38 points over four-time series bridesmaid Mark Martin.
If you think that's odd, consider this: NASCAR fined Stewart and put him on a ``zero tolerance'' probation for ``improper contact'' with a news photographer at Indy in August. Later that month, Stewart was charged (and cleared) with assaulting a female fan at Bristol. A month later, an EMT at Loudon said ...