Tony Stewart got the 2001 season off on the right foot by winning the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona.

Tony Stewart is just 29 years old, but he has known a lifetime of controversy. Still as he begins his third Winston Cup season, Stewart claims to have a new attitude that has left him relaxed -- and ready.

"I'm not as uptight as I've been in the last couple years," he said. "I think that's definitely going to help my performance on the track this year. This is the first time I've been ready to come to Daytona. The second day of January, I was ready to start racing again. Normally at this time of the year, I'm ready for about one more month of offseason."

There was just something different about this year, Stewart said. Perhaps, the two years of experience have opened his eyes to his potential. He has won nine races in two years, finishing fourth and then sixth in the standings. His six victories last season were two more than any other driver and lifted him past Dale Earnhardt for most victories ever by a sophomore.

His quick success makes him a candidate to win the Winston Cup title, and Stewart has no problem with the expectations.

"I think, if anything, it makes you feel good as a driver," he said. "It makes you feel good when the media and the guys who have been around the sport for as long as they have feel like you have learned enough to be competitive. If they said, 'Well, he's two years away from being ready to be a champion,' that would make me more concerned."

Stewart finished 17th at the 500 last season after coming in fourth as a rookie. He recognizes the importance of winning the Daytona 500 at least once, because his failure to win the Indianapolis 500 still bothers him.

Of course, there are a lot of races on this circuit he has yet to conquer.

"We want to win the Brickyard," Stewart said. "We want to win at Daytona. We've got a big checklist of things to do."

And he still has plenty of time to do it all. Knowing he'll be around for the next 10 or 15 years excites Stewart. After all, the average age of the last season's top 10 drivers is 39, and Stewart represents the younger class of drivers who will drive the future of NASCAR.

"When you're standing there, and you look around and see all these guys, 35-40 years old, you realize there's just a few of us here," said Dale Earnhardt Jr., 26, of what it's like to be a younger driver on the circuit.

"So every time I see (Stewart), he's always punching me in the stomach or something, joking around, saying 'Hey, dude, what's up?' You're not going to go up to Rusty Wallace and go, 'Hey, what's up, dude?"'

Even with his success and perhaps because of his age, Stewart knows he has much left to learn -- especially at Daytona.