[AP photo] Matt Kenseth gets knocked out of the Busch Grand National's MBNA Gold 200 here by Dale Earnhardt Jr. (3) last season.

A talented group of rookies join Tony stewart and Jeff Gordon in a youth movement that is taking winston cup by storm.

By DAMIAN CRISTODERO

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 18, 2000

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The king is dead. Long live the king, whomever he may be. That pretty much sums things up for driver Tony Stewart.

It has been just three months since Stewart completed the greatest rookie season Winston Cup has seen. But considering the elite crop of rookies entering the series, Stewart figures he already is yesterday's news, at least when it comes to measuring the success of first-year drivers.

"I'm going to go to the rookie meetings to learn what they know because I think they know more than I do," said Stewart, who won a rookie-record three races and finished fourth in the points standings.

"This group of guys coming in, their credentials are far larger than mine are, so all the hoopla of what I did last year is quickly going to be overshadowed this year by what this group of rookies can do."

The list is impressive and is led by two-time Busch Grand National champion Dale Earnhardt Jr. and 1998 runner-up Matt Kenseth. Joining them from BGN are Dave Blaney and Jeff Fuller.

Mike Bliss and Stacy Compton come from the Truck Series. Scott Pruett comes from CART.

"It's incredible the impact they'll have on our sport," defending Cup champion Dale Jarrett said. "I think each one of them will have opportunities where they can win races. This is one of the best groups of rookies ever coming into Winston Cup."

That may be true, but until things shake out otherwise, the cream of the crop is Earnhardt and Kenseth. Not only for their skills but their youth.

Earnhardt is 25, Kenseth 27. With the 28-year-old Stewart, they represent what many consider the start of Winston Cup's gentrification, as young, dynamic drivers push out the old.

"The youth parade is here," Lowe's Motor Speedway president H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler said. "They're injecting a lot of new interest in the sport. They're changing the demographics to a certain extent. For a while there, people weren't winning till their 30s. How does that relate to an 18-year-old?"

"After awhile, people get stale with the same guys every week," Stewart said. "I think one of the reasons we developed such a strong fan base is because we were a new face in the series and came from a different background."

There will be at least one more young driver next season. Ray Evernham, who is heading Dodge's Winston Cup return, said a rookie will fill one of his two cars.

Look for the Carter-Haas team to move in that direction as well when Darrell Waltrip retires after this season.

"I think it's inevitable," said car owner Carl Haas of the trend toward younger drivers. "A lot of drivers have been around a long time and young blood is going to come in."

Rick Hendrick, owner of Jeff Gordon's car, said the youth movement really began with Gordon, Winston Cup's top rookie as a 22-year-old in 1993.

"I can't say I take all the credit for that, but to a point, yeah," Gordon said. "It depends on the timing. If there is a good, young guy coming up and you think he can do the job, then you take that risk. But if you're doing it just because he's a young guy, then you're doing it for the wrong reasons."

Earnhardt and Kenseth provide the right reasons. The pair won 20 Busch races the past two seasons and the dream of a rivalry between them, Stewart and Gordon is just too good to pass up.

But that's for the future. A more immediate concern is the rookie championship. While most predict a battle between Earnhardt and Kenseth, the other rookies said not to count them out.

"Hey, Virginia Tech was a big underdog and they almost won that thing," said Compton, whose speed of 187.911 mph was tops in last month's Daytona rookie testing.

Said the 37-year-old Blaney, who was seventh in BGN points last season: "I don't feel any disadvantage. We have everything you need to get the job done. We're sitting on even ground now. We'll see how things go at Daytona."

But first a review of basic rookie ground rules. Kenny Irwin, who won the rookie title in 1998, said things are probably not going to go as planned. Stewart's success, he said, was an anomaly.

Second, Irwin said, "The less you say the better." That will help in dealing with the media and other drivers.

"Some people might take that the wrong way, but it would be better than to have something come out the way you didn't mean it," he said. "I don't have a chip on my shoulder, but if somebody stood up and said he was going to win every race and win five poles, they would have a hard time."

And finally, "Just race how you got here," Irwin said. "Stay the same way."

For Earnhardt, part of that means keeping goals and expectations reasonable.

Earnhardt said he doesn't expect to win a race. In fact, if all goes to plan, he said, "We'll have a team we feel confident with going into next season."

The danger, Earnhardt said, is losing the long-term vision in this season's excitement.

"With all the interest in the rookie season and our chances of winning, that kind of overshadows how we're building a team for the next five years, 10 years or 15 years," he said. "We can't sell ourselves short and say we've got to throw it all into the Daytona 500.

"We have to continue to work and continue to find ways to become a more competitive team and think about next year's Daytona 500 and next season and the year after that and how we're going to keep this plan afloat and not run it into the ground."

Stewart doesn't see it, for any of the rookies.

"I'm going to be a shadow after what most of these guys are going to do this year," he said. "I don't think anybody will care about the rookie who wins three races. They'll be talking about the rookie who wins four."

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