WINSTON CUP Tony Stewart won't tip-toe his way to the points crown

He holds a 146-point lead in what has boiled down to a three-man battle.
By MIKE HARRIS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tony Stewart wants to win his first Winston Cup championship the same way he became a contender: by racing hard.
"There is no way I'm going to be points racing," Stewart said after finishing fourth in last Sunday's race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Anybody who doubted the former open-wheel and short track champion's words simply had to watch him bump his way past old nemesis Robby Gordon at 180 mph.
"I wouldn't know how to go out there on the track and not race," Stewart said. "That would feel like cheating."
Stewart asks no quarter and he certainly is giving none as the 2003 season nears its conclusion.
His margin
Going into Sunday's Pop Secret 400 at North Carolina Speedway, Stewart holds a 146-point lead over Mark Martin and has a 150-point margin on surprising rookie Jimmie Johnson in what has boiled down to a three-man battle for the title.
With only three races remaining and NASCAR's most prestigious championship within reach, the 31-year-old Stewart would certainly be excused if he took fewer chances on the racetrack and protected the points lead.
That, however, would not be Stewart, whose fiery demeanor has made the fourth-year Winston Cup star the consummate racer.
"Nothing really slows Tony down," said team owner Joe Gibbs. "There are times when he has had trouble dealing with things off the track but, when he's out there in the car, all he wants to do is race. He wants to be in the car all the time."
Stewart went into Atlanta just 82 points ahead of Johnson. He started from the pole, but things didn't look good when he had to make an unscheduled pit stop early in the race after his crew sent him back onto the track with some loose lugnuts.
That mistake dropped him from second to 32nd. Good sense might have dictated that Stewart take it easy, work his way slowly toward the front and take no chances of a disaster that would cost him precious points.
Chief's advice
"I wasn't happy, but all I told Tony was, 'Take it easy. You've got plenty of time and a good car,' " said crew chief Greg Zipadelli. "He was real calm. He said, 'Yeah, I know.' But I was a little nervous."
Stewart's version of taking it easy was turning his Grand Prix into a streak of orange on the 1.54-mile quad-oval, slicing through traffic with seeming abandon.
He was back in the top 10 in 40 laps and regained the lead during a round of green-flag pit stops a few laps later. Stewart remained at or near the front the rest of the way in the rain-shortened race.
"I could have cruised and just rode in, but I was going for the win today," Stewart said, proudly. "We went to the back and drove ourselves to the front. We didn't get three yellows to help us get there, either. We drove nonstop on our way to the front before the yellow finally came out."