DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Tony Stewart continues to buck the trend in NASCAR.The economy is struggling, and the effects are being felt at the track. There are more empty seats. Sponsors are hard to come by. Car manufacturers are pulling back their cash.

It would seem like the wrong time to start up a new team.

Stewart is not only proving it can be done, but his Stewart-Haas Racing team is thriving.

As the driver/owner of the No. 14 Burger King Chevrolet prepares for Saturday's Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway, Stewart will do so as the points leader with nine races remaining before the Chase field is set. His teammate Ryan Newman is also a likely Chaser, sitting seventh in points.

Not bad for a team that didn't exist at this time last year.

"It's been fun," Stewart said. "Everybody was kind of in a pattern of how they did things, and it was a matter of getting everybody in a new pattern of 'This is how we're going to do it.' It was an adjustment for these guys, but now they're in the routine week in and week out, and it's fun just to watch these guys have fun."

Success makes everything more fun, and there's been plenty in 2009.

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Tony Stewart (left) is the Sprint Cup points leader entering Saturday’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

Stewart said the highlight of the season so far was seeing his team react to his victory at Charlotte in the All-Star race on May 16. His new team found Victory Lane for the first time in a points race June 7, when he won the Pocono 500.

That race was the second in a run of five consecutive finishes of seventh or better that vaulted Stewart to the points lead.

And that's good news for Stewart fans as the second half of the season is about to begin.

"We've historically been better in the last half of the season," said Stewart, who won two Sprint Cup titles racing for Joe Gibbs. "This is obviously the best start we've had to the season, Cup-wise. I don't know what's different. I don't know what's changed. I just know I'm happy with the performance up to this point."

The Pocono victory marked the first time an owner/driver had won a race since 1998. A series title would put him in the same class as Alan Kulwicki, who was the last owner/driver to win a title in 1992.

Stewart said what he's doing now doesn't compare with what Kulwicki did because Kulwicki's job was much tougher. Stewart benefits from getting his engines and his chassis from Hendrick Motorsports, an option Kulwicki didn't have. Kulwicki's team did all the work itself.

Still, what Stewart's been able to accomplish this year has been significant.

"He's doing some great things, on the racetrack and off," said Newman, who will pilot the No. 39 U.S. Army Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas Racing on Saturday.

"I'm glad to be a part of it. He's doing the right things on the racetrack. He's pretty flawless. That's tough to do."

A sneak peek of Stewart's success came in February at Daytona. He won the Nationwide Series race and then finished eighth in the Daytona 500 after starting fifth.

Stewart has been in the top 10 in points all season. He comes to Saturday's race confident, having won the July race at the 2 ½ -mile superspeedway twice (2005, 2006).

"I'm excited about it," he said. "We had a car that at the 500 drove really, really well. That's a bigger factor at this race than it is in February. We've got a good shot at having a very good finish this week."

* won Sprint Cup title