It would be a fitting end to a brilliant career if Bill Elliott were to make this 2003 campaign his last.

For the first time since his last serious bid for a Winston Cup championship (1992), Elliott has notched more than six top-five finishes. He's stormed from 16th to 10th in points in the past seven events and heads to his home state of Georgia for this weekend's race at Atlanta Motor Speedway prepared to drive a chassis -- No. 30 -- in which he has notched each of his three victories for Evernham Motorsports.

The chassis, by the way, will be painted in a commemorative scheme celebrating his lone Cup title back in 1988.

With a strong finish in the final four races and, dare we dream, perhaps a victory at Atlanta this weekend, Elliott could ride off into the sunset ending his NASCAR career near the top of his game.

But Elliott isn't talking retirement. He isn't talking about running a partial schedule in 2004, either. That's the rest of NASCAR Nation sounding off.

Elliott is too busy riding a wave of momentum that has him eyeing a possible finish as high as eighth in the standings. That would be a heck of an accomplishment considering Elliott hasn't finished in the top 10 of the standings since 1997 and was barely inside the top 20 halfway through this season.

"I can't say enough about these guys," Elliott said. "Our program is where it needs to be, and you're starting to see the results on the track. (Team Director) Mike (Ford) and the guys have been putting good equipment underneath me, and we've just got to keep it going."

Running as high as second last weekend at Martinsville, the team was on its way to maintaining momentum early on. Damage to his No. 9 Dodge resulting from an incident involving two other cars jeopardized the streak of consecutive top-fives Elliott had going into Martinsville.

	Elliott has finished worse than 20th just once in the last 13 races.

The team rallied, though, used an early-pitting strategy and salvaged a top-10, finishing ninth.

"The guys never gave up, and we were able to get a decent finish and keep our momentum going," Elliott said.

And the boss has noticed.

Ray Evernham was at the top of his game when he left his gig as Jeff Gordon's crew chief to pursue NASCAR ownership. He had won three titles with Gordon and knew the bar would be high for him to be deemed a success. In order to achieve such lofty expectations, he knew exactly whom he wanted behind the wheel of his first car -- Elliott.

The two have struggled through the upstart of a new team and manufacturer. They've sifted through a myriad of crew members and, finally, found a stride -- as has Elliott's teammate Jeremy Mayfield.

"I'm really proud of both teams," Evernham said. "... I feel really good about where we are right now as a race team. I'm really proud of everyone from the engine shop to the car shop to the drivers, just everyone involved in this organization."

After his ninth-place finish at Martinsville, Elliott jumped up two spots to 10th. He's a long shot to crack the top five, but Elliott isn't getting greedy. He understands how hard the team has worked just to come back from as low as 36th place early this season to where it is, now.

"It's a nice accomplishment for this team," he said. "They've worked hard and deserve it. I'm really proud of them because we've been consistent and that's what you've got to be in this sport. Our finishes haven't really shown what we're capable of until the last few months.

"We've got some momentum going, and it's showing up on the track. We can't let it get away now. We've just got to keep it going into these last few races. If we do that, then everything else will take care of itself."

Rupen Fofaria is a freelance writer living in Chicago and a regular contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached at rfofaria@espnspecial.com.