That’s Racin’ ranks the top 35 Winston Cup teams for the 2003 season, based on overall team performance:

The top tier

• 1. Matt Kenseth (car No. 17): Scored 222 more points to win the championship than Tony Stewart did a year ago. Preseason ranking: 6.
• 2. Ryan Newman (car No. 12): Points standings aside, this team did more good things than any other in the sport, by far. Preseason ranking: 2.
• 3. Jimmie Johnson (car No. 48): Six straight top-three finishes to close out ’03 and nail down the runner-up spot in standings. Preseason ranking: 5.
• 4. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (car No. 8): This team simply needs to get better all around to move up and race for the title next season. Preseason ranking: 8.
• 5. Kevin Harvick (car No. 29): Has all the desire he needs to be a championship contender. Does he have the patience? Preseason ranking: 16.
• 6. Bill Elliott (car No. 9): Elliott’s average finish over the season’s final 12 races was 9.6. Kenseth’s was 15.9. Preseason ranking: 14.

• 7. Tony Stewart (car No. 20): This team somehow kept missing the mark late in races when it mattered most in 2003. Preseason ranking: 1.
• 8. Jeff Gordon (car No. 24): Finished fourth in points for the second straight year. Streak of at least three race wins for nine straight seasons is very impressive. Preseason ranking: 4.
• 9. Bobby Labonte (car No. 18): Is one of nine drivers with multiple victories in 2003 thanks to a last-lap miracle at Homestead. Preseason ranking: 11.
• 10. Kurt Busch (car No. 97): Justifiably bummed out after early Homestead wreck cost him a top-10 points-position finish. Preseason ranking: 3.

The middle tier

Ryan Newman and Dale Earnhardt Jr. should be contenders for the Nextel Cup championship next season.

• 11. Jamie McMurray (car No. 42): Took charge of rookie-of-the-year race in the season’s second half. This will be a team to watch in ’04. Preseason ranking: 24.
• 12. Terry Labonte (car No. 5): Top-10 points finish is a terrific rebound for this team after a couple of really long years. Preseason ranking: 33.
• 13. Jeremy Mayfield (car No. 19): In May this team was falling apart. Had things not turned around from there it would’ve. Preseason ranking: 19.
• 14. Michael Waltrip (car No. 15): Team won twice, but it was fifth in points after the second Michigan race before wilting. Preseason ranking: 20.
• 15. Rusty Wallace (car No. 2): Not getting the right help from the No. 12 team? That’s bad. Not using what help it gets? That’s worse. Preseason ranking: 13.
• 16. Jeff Burton (car No. 99): What in the world has happened to this team? Its slide is one of the biggest mysteries in the sport. Preseason ranking: 9.
• 17. Sterling Marlin (car No. 40): No top-five finishes all season. This team just never got close to the form it showed in 2002. Preseason ranking: 12.
• 18. Greg Biffle (car No. 16): July win at Daytona was the season’s biggest surprise. Biffle may run Cup and Grand National slates in ’04. Preseason ranking: 21.
• 19. Robby Gordon (car No. 31): Swept the road courses and had a great summer stretch before faltering through the fall. Preseason ranking: 23.
• 20. Mark Martin (car No. 6): Ford’s new cylinder head and new car pieces might help this team more than any other. Preseason ranking: 7.

The Rest of the Top 35

• 21. Jimmy Spencer (car No. 7): This ornery old cuss had his days in ’03. Team needs a sponsor to build on that in 2004. Preseason ranking: 35.
• 22. Elliott Sadler (car No. 38): This team looked great out of the box, but couldn’t keep the positive momentum going for long. Preseason ranking: 18.
• 23. Dale Jarrett (car No. 88): Win in second race at Rockingham looks like a miracle given what happened after that. Preseason ranking: 10.
• 24. Ricky Rudd (car No. 21): This Wood Bros. team may move to Charlotte for closer link with Roush Racing. That might help. Preseason ranking: 15.
• 25. Ward Burton (car No. 0): Burton sees promise in this team he joined near season’s end. Move to Chevy won’t hurt, either. Preseason ranking: 38.
• 26. Tony Raines (car No. 74): Did as much with as little as anybody in the sport in 2003. But finding sponsors is still elusive. Preseason ranking: Not ranked.
• 27. Joe Nemechek (car No. 01): Nemechek winds up what Jerry Nadeau started. May also benefit from switch to Chevy. Preseason ranking: 34.
• 28. Dave Blaney (car No. 77): If Penske South shares more resources once this team goes to Dodge next season, there could be a pickup here. Preseason ranking: 29.
• 29. Brian Vickers (car No. 25): The Grand National champ showed he can qualify for Cup events. We’ll see how steep the racing learning curve is. Preseason ranking: 28.
• 30. Scott Wimmer (car No. 22): This Bill Davis Racing team may wander in Cup wilderness until Toyota seeds are harvested. Preseason ranking: 17.
• 31. Ricky Craven (car No. 32): Won in the season’s best finish at Darlington, but this team completed the year on a long slide. Preseason ranking: 22.
• 32. Johnny Benson (car No. 10): Team likely to break apart after a long run as a tight unit. Scott Riggs drives here in 2004. Preseason ranking: 26.
• 33. Todd Bodine (car No. 54): The future seems highly uncertain here, too. Sponsor supposedly still looking elsewhere. Preseason ranking: 39.
• 34. John Andretti (car No. 1): If this team is around in 2004, it seems more and more likely Andretti will be back, too. Preseason ranking: 27.
• 35. Ken Schrader (car No. 49): Another set of question marks. Will Schrader move on? If he does, will this team go away? Preseason ranking: 40.