While Matt Kenseth top-five'd his way to the Winston Cup championship last season, Jack Roush was trying to figure out what in the world was happening to the rest of his stable.

Nobody else finished in the top 10, although Kurt Busch and Jeff Burton came close by finishing 11th and 12th, respectively. Mark Martin, meanwhile, finished 17th and rookie Greg Biffle finished 20th.

Pretty frustrating for a powerhouse Nextel Cup team owner, right? Actually, because of some late-season momentum and developments over the offseason, Roush is pretty confident going into 2004 -- despite the fact that Burton, who was once the star of his stable, still does not have sponsorship to run a full Cup schedule.

"We've got issues to sort out," Roush said. "But overall I feel great going into (2004)."

Minimal changes have been made to the five teams. Martin has a new crew chief in Pat Tryson, but that move occurred with two races to go last year and Martin says it feels as though the transition period is already over.

This consistency, combined with some improvements in the engine program and a newly approved cylinder head that will make its appearance in all Fords sometime this season, has got all of Roush Racing pretty excited.

"The cylinder head is going to have a slight performance enhancement, but it won't turn the world upside down," Martin said. "We as a team are the ones that have the real task at hand, and that is to turn the world upside down with the sharper tools that we're given to go into 2004. The real challenge is us.

"It's not the tools that we're getting that's gonna make us run, it's what we do with them that is gonna make us run. I feel good about it. We've done some things at Roush Racing that we think are going to be key to making better cars. We're always working on having better cars, better engines and better pit stops."

Roush said the cylinder head isn't slated to make its debut with his team during the first half of the year. Biffle, who said his team was busy improving on a number of other weaknesses it found in last year's debut season, said he was a bit disheartened by that news. But he believes when the new heads are in the cars, the rest of the garage is going to have to watch out.

"I was talking to Jack about it earlier, and he doesn't (expect) to see that new cylinder head until maybe Indy or the second Michigan race," Biffle said. "I thought it was going to be a lot sooner than that. I figured it would be Vegas or something around that, so I was a little disappointed to find out that cylinder head won't be here as quick as we thought it was going to be. But I'm sure the sharing program with Yates is going to help us some. It's going to help them and us together collectively, so we're excited about that."

	Jack Roush, left, and Jeff Burton, right, are trying to find sponsorship after Citgo pulled out.

Other than that, Biffle and Co. are busy trying to find more horsepower in their engines -- particularly for qualifying -- and more chemistry in the over-the-wall pit crew. Those were the goals the team set before getting to Daytona this month for testing, a trip that brought back fond memories for the 2003 Pepsi 400 winner.

"Yeah, it was kind of neat when I was walking in this morning because I thought about the fact that the last time I was here we won," Biffle said. "That's pretty exciting. I don't know if we're going to be back in that position or not. I know the guys worked really, really hard all winter long to speed our program up. We haven't found any speed yet, but it's typical Daytona -- it's tough to see that. Typically with our program, we're a little bit better in race trim than we are in qualifying, so we're working on it."

Martin didn't have any such fond memories when he returned to Daytona for testing. He finished fifth and 20th at Daytona last season -- which wasn't bad. But there were no victories, at Daytona or anywhere else for Martin last year. It was a long season for the driver of the No. 6 car, and a very short offseason.

"It feels like, 'Wow, I can't believe we're here at the track again,'" Martin said. "But I have a lot to look forward to this year. You don't see all of that the first day of Daytona testing, but I'm pretty excited about my team."

Martin, who was runner-up to Tony Stewart in 2002, believes consistency among his team, an infusion of energy from Tryson and a lot of the gains Roush Racing as a whole is making will help in 2004.

"We've had very little change here and have had some slight modifications that I'm really, really excited about," he said. "That should tune things up a little bit. I love Pat Tryson, and I think the team does, too. I'm really optimistic about having Pat with us for the whole year."

Tryson was with the team for two races last season -- both races ending in a DNF. Still, Martin is excited.

"I liked Pat before, but I was a little apprehensive about making the move because you never know for sure," Martin said. "He's very assertive, and I liked the way the races went last year. I especially liked Homestead and the way things went there, but I've liked the way he's handled the shop and the team over the winter even more. That's what has really been the key for our enthusiasm coming into the year. We should have stronger cars than we had last year."

Busch, whose monster late-season run in 2002 made him a favorite last season, didn't exactly fall too far off the pace with his 11th-place points finish. Still, he wasn't happy with it. And he won't be happy with anything less than a title-contending year in 2004 -- although he wouldn't mind another four-win season.

"Nowadays it's hard enough just to win one, so to win four was really exciting for this team," Busch said. "If we can just find more consistency in the rest of the races, we'll be in better shape."

That was Kenseth's wish after a five-win season in 2002. We know how that turned out, so there's probably hope for Busch, as well.

"He's grown so much the last (three) years," Roush said.

As for Burton, his main goal is to secure sponsorship. It's stunning that a man who was a title-favorite as recently as 2000 and 2001 can't find a full-time sponsor. Right now, the team will run at least 14 events. Anything more will be relief for him.

"I'm very confident about this team and, obviously there are some things to work out, but I really believe in this team," Burton said.

Burton has still got a positive outlook and would like an opportunity to race under the new points system, which he supports.

"I think it's a good thing, which puts me in the minority," Burton said. "The person that does the best job still wins, that doesn't change. You don't have any less of a chance of winning, you just have to go about winning differently. I think in the end it will give more people the opportunity to win.

"All in all, I think it's a good thing that will make it more of a playoff scenario, which in turn will make it exciting for the fans, and that's what we are all about."

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