By CURT CAVIN
The Indianapolis Star

NEW YORK - Tony Stewart did what came natural Thursday morning in the middle of Times Square during the first snowstorm of the season. He laughed and played.

"It's like going home to Indiana in the winter," he told New Yorkers gathered to honor NASCAR's new Winston Cup champion. "This is a blast, a real blast. Can you imagine? Me, here in the middle of New York, with my car and our team on the video screen.

"And then to have it snow like this. It's what I've dreamed for."

With that, the Columbus, Ind., native brushed a couple inches of snow off his No. 20 race car, climbed up on the window opening like he was in victory circle and thrust his arms in the air. It was a Kodak-on-Broadway moment.

Stewart said it was better than visiting the White House and meeting President Bush as he did on Monday, and better than the perfect night's sleep he got last month in Homestead, Fla., after clinching his first stock-car championship.

"He's having a ball," crew chief Greg Zipadelli said. "He's been like this all week."

On Friday night, the 31-year-old will be officially crowned as the king of American motorsports.

NASCAR's awards ceremony will be held at the Manhattan Center across from Madison Square Garden (8 p.m., TNT). Then he will be the guest of honor at the Champion's Party in the ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Present will be every member of his Home Depot crew.

Stewart said he isn't accustomed to being the center of attention, as he has been since his Washington/New York celebration tour began five days ago.

"Every day that gets closer (to the awards ceremony) I'm getting more excited," he said. "I've had a pretty good week so far, and it's been much more enjoyable than I expected. It's not near what I thought it would be.

"I thought I'd be extremely wore out and ready to go home, make that really ready to go home. But I've even enjoyed time with the media, which is the last thing anyone thought they'd hear from my mouth."

Stewart has encountered problems with the media several times in his four-year Winston Cup career, including an incident with an Indianapolis Star freelance photographer after the Brickyard 400 in August. But Stewart even sparkled in Wednesday's marathon session: Twenty consecutive 5-minute satellite interviews with television stations across the nation.

Twice this week he's had media luncheons. On Thursday, he had another hour's worth of one-on-one interviews. The questions about being the sport's bad boy have been frequent, but Stewart, personable and likable away from racing, has handled them professionally.

"I feel like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders," he said of winning the championship. "We've proven we can win races, we've proven we can win championships. It's a fact now."

Stewart predicted 2003 will be a more enjoyable season for not only himself, but everyone around him. He vowed to spend more time with his girlfriend, Jaime Schaffer, and less in work-related settings. Stewart said he will not compete in the Indianapolis 500, freeing him from he said would be three weeks of criticism.

"I won't give (the media) that opportunity any more," he said. "As much as I love that event and my heart wants to win it, to go through what we went through (in 2001) is not worth it."

Stewart said he enjoys his Winston Cup niche, even if it means having to wear a coat and tie like he's done this week.

"I'm just a small-town kid from southern Indiana, I'm a racer and that's what I want to be," he said. "I don't want to be a legend, I don't want to be an icon or anything important.

"My friends treat me as a normal person and they wouldn't care if I never turned another lap (in a race car). Back in Indianapolis, they're waiting on me for a card game. They're all going to try to cash in on this big check I'm about to get."

Notes

Stewart said he suffered no ill effects from being knocked unconscious for nearly 2 minutes in the U.S. Auto Club's annual Turkey Night Grand Prix midget race at Irwindale (Calif.) Speedway on Thanksgiving. He crashed with Aaron Fike, whose throttle stuck. ... Kyle Petty was honored Thursday as True Value's NASCAR Person of the Year for his creation of a new camp for terminally ill children, which will open in Randleman, N.C., in 2004. ... Teresa Earnhardt unveiled the new Dale Earnhardt Legacy Program, which includes a foundation that will support charitable causes. The program's first major event will be a concert at Daytona International Speedway in June.