Brad Leighton has found a formula for consistent winning in the Busch North Series, NASCAR Touring.

But following a sixth place finish in the road course event, NASCAR 2000's 17-race campaign at speedways across the Northeast had convinced him of the truth in an ancient sports proverb: "The second toughest challenge is getting to the top. The toughest challenge is staying there."

"I'd certainly agree with those words," said the Center Harbor, N.H., driver before he climbed aboard the Sheraton Harborside Portsmouth Chevrolet for the finale. "It was tougher this year. Everybody stepped up their program -- Tracy Gordon, Dale Shaw, Dave Dion, all of them.

"Early in the season, things weren't going our way. We were running new cars and we weren't as strong as we needed to be. Later in the season, things started going our way, both on and off the track."

The numbers show consistency was the key to Leighton's 2000 crown. The year before, he had led the standings all year after winning the opener, piling up a circuit leading six race victories along the way. In 2000, he swapped the lead with Gordon during the first half of the schedule and didn't take command until the series reached New Hampshire International Speedway in July.

Down the stretch he inched away from Gordon and Shaw, wrapping up the title at NHIS in September with a 10th place finish -- ironically, his worst result of the year.

Following his sixth place finish with a transmission locked in fourth gear at Lime Rock, the numbers showed Leighton with a 219-point margin over runner-up Shaw, larger than his 168-point spread over Gordon in 1999.

The rest of Leighton's line in the standings reveals how the title was won. In addition to three race wins, he recorded a dozen top-5 finishes and a perfect 17-for-17 in top-10s. It was the first time a Busch North Series driver had ever "run the table" in top-10 finishes. Even more impressive, he completed every lap of every race.

The secret to Leighton's amazing consistency comes from the equally amazing stability of the Grizco Racing team, which has been together without major personnel change for nine years -- the last five of them in the Busch North Series.

"Steve and Peg Griswold give us everything we need, and Brian Latuch and Karl Osha always bring a car to the track that can run up front," Leighton said.

The team's cohesiveness is particularly impressive in view of the fact that its principals are spread out over much of New England during the week. The husband-and-wife car ownership tandem, the Griswolds, resides in Freeport, Maine. They sponsor the team through their hotel property in Portsmouth, N.H.

Co-crew chiefs Latuch and Osha maintain the No. 55 Chevrolets at Latuch's shop near St. Albans, Vt., not far from the Canadian border. Meanwhile, Leighton operates a highly successful service business, Catch Basin Cleaners, from his home at Center Harbor in the New Hampshire Lakes Region.

Perhaps the greatest tribute to Leighton and the Grizco team was paid by the crew chief of one of their major rivals.

"They never build a race car at the track," he observed. "They do their homework, and they come to race."