Ward Burton drove one to victory in this year's season-opening Daytona 500, one of three drivers finishing in that race's top-11 places.

Four of its drivers finished in the top-15 in last Sunday's race at Rockingham, N.C., including runner-up Sterling Marlin.

	Bill Elliott returned himself and Ray Evernham to Victory Lane at Homestead, Fla., in 2001.

Three of its drivers are in the top-8 of the current Winston Cup standings, including the top two spots (Marlin in first, Burton in second, as well as veteran Bill Elliott in eighth).

Two of its drivers are in the top-11 starting spots in the chief sponsor's title race, Sunday's UAW-Daimler Chrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, with Jimmy Spencer in fourth and a surprising 11th-place start for a suddenly re-energized Kyle Petty.

Dodge is back with a vengeance in 2002. After going through growing pains in its return to Winston Cup last season after a nearly 20-year layoff, the Dodge nameplate is once again a formidable challenger to break up some of the dominance that Ford, Chevrolet and Pontiac have enjoyed in recent years.

That's why you can't blame Ray Evernham, who shepherded Dodge's return, for walking around with a big smile on his face these days, like a father proud of how his children have matured.

"One of the reasons I chose to go with Dodge is I believed in their commitment," Evernham said. "They were always a strong engine and car maker, even back in the '60s and '70s, with Richard Petty, Buddy Baker and others.

"(When Dodge came back to Winston Cup) they had a commitment and they've lived up to it. I'm very pleased with them. I don't know what kind of success that they expected, but for those of us in Winston Cup a long time, it's very difficult. They put a good car and a good engine together, and I think some of the race teams have stepped it up. Certainly, the goal for them when they started this thing, whether it be three years, five years or ten years, was to win the Manufacturers Cup. Right now, that's what the focus is on."

Even though Sunday's race is just the third event on the 36-race schedule, much of the early success is a carryover from the second half of last season, when Dodge earned four victories in the last 14 events, two by Marlin and one each by Burton and Elliott.

"It's going well, but we could be further ahead yet," Evernham said. "We've had to face a lot of rules changes. NASCAR slapped the Dodges around pretty good when it came to the speedway stuff and even when we got our downforce stuff going. So, I don't think we're as far ahead as we could be if they had left us alone."

Complaints about rules, particularly in the weeks leading up to Daytona, once again ignited furor among all four manufacturers, with allegations that one make had an unfair advantage over the others. It was like a see-saw, swinging back and forth from Dodge to Ford to Chevrolet to Pontiac.

While Evernham would like to think the griping is over, he's been in this sport long enough to know that if one of his drivers -- Elliott or Jeremy Mayfield -- wins Sunday's event, or if one of the other Dodge-powered pilots glides their gleaming Intrepid into Victory Lane, you'll see a contingent of Ford, Chevy or Pontiac drivers high-tailing it to NASCAR's trailer after the race, claiming Dodge has yet another advantage.

"Unfortunately, the sport has come down to that," Evernham said. "I expect complaining every weekend. It's one of the things I dread the most, that the sport has come to that. It would be great for Dodge to win here this weekend because it's a UAW-Daimler Chrysler sponsored race, but I think no matter who wins, there'll be some complaining because that's unfortunately what the sport has come down to.

"I think if NASCAR wants to keep credibility in the sport, at some point we're going to have to do something. Right now, the sport is growing and growing and growing, and we can't have it be about people bitching every week on who's doing this or who's doing that. We just can't."

Switching gears, Evernham is still elated over Burton's win at Daytona. Evernham's own driver, Elliott, won the pole for the race last season. You might say Elliott wrote the first chapter last season and Burton finished it two Sundays ago.

"It was good for Dodge because Dodge puts a big presence at the Daytona 500," Evernham said. "I was very, very happy for everybody at Dodge, especially some of the people who went out on a limb to get this program done. So, I was real happy for them, but I was also real happy for (team owner) Bill Davis. He's one of the first people I worked for when I came into this sport, so I'm happy for him, too."

While Dodge's long-term goal for this season is to win the manufacturer's championship and maybe even have a Dodge driver take the title, the more immediate goal is to have a strong finish Sunday.

In other words, the Dodge teams want to look good for the big bosses from Michigan. And Evernham couldn't pick a better venue for his team's first win of 2002 than Las Vegas.

"We're still struggling," Evernham said. "I just feel like we haven't hit our consistency. Bill's (Elliott) solid, he's a rock, he's the anchor of this program. He keeps us steady, but I really want to get our performance up. I felt like we had a good handle on it at the end of last year, and then we went through some rule changes and driver changes.

"Right now, we can't just seem to hit our stride. I feel like I've got a stronger foundation in place and everyone's doing a good job, but for some reason we just can't seem to hit that stride. Hopefully we will be able to do so before too long."

Jerry Bonkowski covers NASCAR for ESPN.com