After a very rough start, 2003 is turning out to be a tremendous season for Ryan Newman. He now has eight wins, leading some to wonder how he's doing it. That's just one of the sidebar issues that emerged following Sunday's Banquet 400 at Kansas Speedway.

Domination by Deception? It's becoming a repetitive scenario. In Michigan, Richmond, Dover and again Sunday in Kansas, crew chief Matt Borland estimated that Ryan Newman would be significantly short on fuel. Each time, the No. 12 team gambled and each time, they ended the day in victory lane.

Is this more than a coincidence? Newman was asked during his post-race news conference if he was cheating; a question that he quickly and definitively answered, "no."

Newman's season will go down in history as one of the greatest sophomore years ever. Before this year, no driver during the modern era (1972 -- present) had ever won more than six races in just their second full season. With his eight victories, Newman understands why some would be suspicious.

"When you beat the competition so many times they start to wonder, and we're just doing the best job we can," Newman said. "It's no secret. We don't cheat. Our team's not that way. We just go out and do the best job we can as a team and that's it."

Borland agrees.

"People think we're cheating on fuel mileage, yet in qualifying there's no fuel mileage and he goes out there and is outqualifying everyone every week and that doesn't have anything to do with fuel mileage," said Borland, referencing Newman's seven poles this season. "The fact that you win by fuel mileage, well you still need a good car to get to that point. I'm just real proud of all the guys and whatever the other people say they are just gonna say."

While some might cry foul, others give credit where it's due. Most teams realize they simply need to work harder.

	By not stopping when others did, Ryan Newman found himself spinning doughnuts as victor in Kansas.

"We have to work on it back at the shop," Bobby Labonte said. "We've got to make ourselves efficient. We've done it before it's just that other people are doing it, too.

"Everybody sees these races now and sees that tire wear is not a factor and gas mileage is a factor. Both of those mean you don't need to worry about tires as much and you have to worry about track position and getting the best fuel mileage."

Newman's Penske Racing teammate Rusty Wallace believes his team gets similar fuel mileage. However, he contends the difference between his winless season and Newman's incredible year is pit strategy.

"That strategy they've been using to keep enough fuel in the back of that car and get that thing positioned up front in that clean air is what it takes to win the thing," asserted Wallace. "They do an amazing amount of calculations to position the car up front.

"I looked one time in the rear view mirror to see where (Newman) was and he was way in the back. They put four tires on it, that didn't work out and they got stuck in the back. The next time he just stayed on the racetrack, didn't pit and went from the back to the front. And that wins him races. That's won them five or six races."

Newman joined an elite group with Sunday's win. Bill Elliott, Rusty Wallace, Jeff Gordon and now Newman are the only active drivers to have won eight or more races in a season.

Championship turning point On the heels of a season-low 33rd place Talladega finish, points leader Matt Kenseth finished 36th in Kansas after crashing on lap 70.

While it is still very much Kenseth's championship to lose, it now appears his two race slump has exposed him to a challenge.

Kevin Harvick finished sixth. In the last four races he has picked up 204 points and is currently 259 behind Kenseth in second place.

Despite a disappointing 18th place finish, Dale Earnhardt Jr. shaved another 59 points off his deficit and trails by 325 in third.

Newman has gained 253 points in the last three weeks alone and jumped to fourth in the standings, 364 back with six races remaining.

Statistic of the race 1.667. That's Ryan Newman's three-race average finish at the Kansas Speedway. In just his fifth career start Newman finished second in 2001. He duplicated the performance last season and won this year's event.

NASCAR's Human Highlight Film For the second straight week Elliott Sadler's day ended in dramatic fashion. Last week he turned the M&Ms Ford into the W&Ws Ford as he flipped five times in a horrifying Talladega crash. This week he was involved in a fiery crash after slamming the wall early in the race.

Random Thoughts The modern era record for wins in a season is 13 (Richard Petty 1975 and Jeff Gordon 1998). Newman would have to win five of the final six races to match that mark.

Who's going to take over the AOL Chevrolet? Steve Park was informed last week that he will not be driving it in 2004. Several drivers are rumored to be candidates, including Ward Burton and Jeremy Mayfield, but Richard Childress Racing will not confirm this.

Mike Massaro covers NASCAR for ESPN and ESPN.com.