2003 NASCAR Winston Cup Series

The 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup Series was the 55th season of professional in the United States and the 32nd modern-era Cup Series season. The season began with on February 8 at the Daytona International Speedway with the Budweiser Shootout and ended on November 16 at Homestead-Miami Speedway with the Ford 400. Matt Kenseth, driving the No.17 Ford for Roush Racing, was crowned the Winston Cup champion, despite winning only one race in the season. Chevrolet took home the NASCAR Manufacturers' Championship after capturing 19 wins and 264 points over second-place finisher Dodge, who had nine wins and 203 points. Ford finished the year third with seven wins and 200 points, and Pontiac finished fourth with one win and 125 points.

This was the last year in which Winston was the title sponsor of the Cup Series. After Winston decided not to renew its sponsorship, NASCAR decided on the telecommunications firm Nextel to be the new title sponsor of the Cup Series. This was also the last season for Unocal 76 as the official fuel for NASCAR. Unocal and their 76 Brand had been the official fuel since the sport's inception in 1948. This was also the last full time season for Pontiac. Pontiac had been with NASCAR on 2 different occasions. The first was from 1949 to 1964, then they returned in 1981 and continued full time until the end 2003.

In addition, NASCAR instituted a new points system after this season entitled the Chase for the Cup, in which after 26 races, all the points standings in the top ten as well as any position within 400 points of the lead, would be reset, so the drivers in those positions would be eligible for the championship. This was done primarily because of the huge lead Kenseth accumulated during 2003 despite winning one race.

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