When the checkered flag was waived at Miami-Homestead last November, Kurt Busch’s fifth place finish was good enough for him to clinch NASCAR’s 2004 championship. However, before Busch could even taste the champagne, critics were already putting an asterisk beside his name.

Under the old points system, Busch would have finished a distant fourth place in the standings, as Jeff Gordon would have won his fifth title. Other critics claimed that Jimmie Johnson, who won eight races in 2004, had the overall best season and would have ran away with the title under the old points system.

For those who don’t remember, Johnson and the #48 team did some experimenting around midseason, which ended up biting them in the rear. Those experiments wouldn’t have been touched if it weren’t for the Chase for Championship format.

Why don’t we flashback to 2003. Throughout that year, Matt Kenseth’s steady consistency helped him runaway from the competition as he pretty much had the championship wrapped up with two races to go.

It wasn’t just the lack of drama heading into the final races of the season that "invalidated" Kenseth’s championship. It was the fact that he only won a single race all year and many felt that Ryan Newman, who won a season high eight races and 11 poles in 2003, had the overall best season.

So NASCAR changed their championship format to add drama and excitement to the championship race, which it did, but it also produced questions of the validity of the champion.

This year, the championship race in Miami-Homestead was less dramatic, as Tony Stewart was, without question, the best driver in 2005. I was actually relieved when he clinched the championship, because it will be hard for fans to invalidate this year’s champion.

Stewart’s five trips to victory lane, which came at midseason when he dominated winning five of seven races, were second only to Greg Biffle’s six. He also racked up 17 top fives, 25 top 10s and 3 Bud Poles Awards, and at one point in the season, he finished in the top 10 for 13 consecutive races.

Stewart’s win at the Brickyard might have been the most popular win of the 2005 season. His fence climbing celebrations were welcome by fans of all drivers and for the first time in his career, there weren’t many on or off-track skirmishes that clouded Stewart and the #20 team’s prior seasons. It certainly was a banner year for the Columbia, Indiana native.

Stewart’s second championship moves him closer to NASCAR’s elite status as he has become the second active driver to win multiple championships. Gordon is the other and he won his fourth title in 2001.

After the race in Homestead, Mark Martin proclaimed Stewart the "best driver of the generation," which is quite a compliment coming from Mr. Pessimistic. I would say that Stewart is a step or two behind Gordon, but his stock is rising.