HOMESTEAD, Fla. - Tony Stewart drove his car slowly down pit road yesterday evening at Homestead-Miami Speedway, his eyes brimming with emotion. He had just clinched his first Winston Cup championship, and now there were all the crews he had competed against all season, coming out to congratulate him.

For Stewart, who has been his own worst enemy most of the year - losing his self-control, pushing photographers and belittling his team's achievements - that slow ride seemed almost unbelievable.

"To rebound from finishing 43rd at Daytona last February and get through all the things we went through - I practically single-handedly destroyed this team by midseason - to go through all that, I still have a hard time believing we've done this," Stewart said. "But there was no magic to it. Just hard work. And to see all my peers come out, to take the time on an evening when everyone just wants to get home, well, I don't care what amount the check is that Winston writes, seeing those guys, it was like that commercial on television. It was priceless."

Stewart, who will get a check for $3.7 million, went into the Ford 400, the final race of the Winston Cup season, needing to finish 22nd or better to clinch the title against veteran Mark Martin, who was 89 points behind. And Stewart, 31, expected it to be a fairly routine task.

After all, he had won two of three previous races at this 1.5- mile race track. His Joe Gibbs-owned Pontiac had run well in qualifying and practice over the weekend and, as he said before the race: "I'm as calm as I've ever been in this situation."

But shortly after this race began, he began to feel differently.

"Ten laps into it, I thought, 'Boy, this might not be an ordinary Sunday at Homestead,' " he said.

Still, by the end of the day, Stewart was able to maintain a 38-point lead over his only challenger. Martin, who described his effort as "driving his brains out," rallied from his 34th place starting position to finish fourth. However, it wasn't enough to overcome Stewart and his team, as they nursed a bad-handling car back from a lap down to finish 18th and claim the crown.

"I never really looked at this thing and allowed myself to think I would win it," said Martin of the championship race, in which he had finished second three previous times. "That's a good thing, because now I feel no letdown. But so many people wanted me to win it, and I worried about them and about letting them down. ... I want to tell them I gave it everything I had from the first lap of testing in January to the last lap today.

"We fought for this title to the wire, and maybe this is the greatest battle my crew and I ever fought. But, in the end, Tony and his team was the best team all year."

Martin's teammate, pole-sitter Kurt Busch, won yesterday's race, averaging 116.462 mph in his Jack Roush-owned Ford. It was the third victory in the final five races for Busch and completed his climb from 12th to third in the points standing during the final 13 weeks of the season.

Another battle to the wire was decided, as NASCAR named Ryan Newman the Rookie of the Year over Jimmie Johnson. At one time or another this season, both men were in position to win the Winston Cup championship; Johnson finished fifth in points and Newman sixth.

Jeff Gordon, the four-time and defending Winston Cup champion, started 37th yesterday, using the first provisional starting spot (a starting position allotted to a former champion who fails to make the field based on his qualifying speed) of his career. He raced to a fifth- place finish and wound up fourth in the points chase. Then he described his feelings about handing the champion's crown to Stewart.

"I think it's great," he said. "He's an awesome racecar driver, and I think it's well-deserved. He's been close the last couple years [finishing second last season], and they did the job. Their championship was won with their race team and their driver behind the wheel, and he wheels them as good as anybody I've ever seen."

Yesterday, every driver asked about the new champion described Stewart as a "racer's racer" and voiced appreciation for his talent, while avoiding being too critical of his off-track behavior.

"I admire Tony Stewart," Martin said. "I am a commercialized racer; you have to be. I've done my very best to be that way and represent the sport to my very best. But down deep, I'm like Tony. ... He's intense. He races fair and clean. I was racing when he was a kid, and he respects that. But it will be interesting to watch. I said [to his wife] Saturday after the news conference here, 'You have to wonder why he says the things he does.' But that's Tony, and I guess you'd say I'm a Tony Stewart fan."

Nothing has come easily to Stewart and his team this season. Yesterday didn't come easily either, and Gibbs, the car owner who paced the sidelines, allowed it is "all the things you have to go through and endure that makes each championship special."

Stewart certainly isn't oblivious to the trouble he has caused.

After he drove down pit road and into Victory Lane, he began looking for his crew chief, Greg Zipadelli. When he found him, they wrapped their arms around each other and cried.

"Zippy has held this team together," Stewart said. "I made this team so miserable, there were guys who didn't want to work for me and I don't blame them. I wouldn't have wanted to work for me either. But Zippy was the glue.

"Today, to see Zippy cry - I knew I could make him cry; I've done it before - but to make him cry like he did today is special. I know I can't make up for all I've done, but maybe this championship puts some of it right."

Final standings

Winston Cup points

1. Tony Stewart 4,800

2. Mark Martin 4,762

3. Kurt Busch 4,641

4. Jeff Gordon 4,607

5. Jimmie Johnson 4,600

6. Ryan Newman 4,593

7. Rusty Wallace 4,574

8. Matt Kenseth 4,432

9. Dale Jarrett 4,415

10. Ricky Rudd 4,323