Title 411: Talladega

NASCAR.com's Ryan Smithson will break down the title chases every Wednesday. We know the Winston Cup title chase is not as close at Stewart vs. Martin, but hey, there's still a lot to cover here.

Kenseth held a 174-point lead after Sonoma – the last race of the first half. Since that time, his lead has more than doubled to 436 points.

	Matt Kenseth

The reason for this is simple -- Kenseth is qualifying better than he ever has in his Winston Cup career.

Kenseth qualified in the top 10 just twice in the first half, but in the 12 races since then, he's already started in the top 10 six times.

Obviously, the two rained-out sessions (Loudon, Dover) helped, but he's qualified worse than 24th just twice in the second half.

In the first half, Kenseth qualified worse than 24th five times. Both of Kenseth's worst finishes in 2003 have came during that five-race period.

Kenseth's points lead is not the most commanding ever, but it's the most impressive.

In 1975, Richard Petty won the title by whopping 722 points over Dave Marcis. Only seven drivers competed in all 30 races, which makes Kenseth's feat that much more impressive.

	Dale Earnhardt

This year, 31 drivers have competed in all 28 races.

A more similar season was 1994, when Dale Earnhardt won the title by 444 points over Mark Martin.

Earnhardt won "only" four races, while Rusty Wallace won a Ryan Newman-like eight races.

The 1994 title chase would have been a lot more exciting, but Ernie Irvan was nearly killed in practice at Michigan in August, eliminating him from a sure championship battle with Earnhardt.

Irvan had been only 27 points behind Earnhardt at the time of his injury.

The next three drivers – Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. – are separated by just 54 points heading into Talladega.

	Kevin Harvick

Obviously, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the favorite, having won the last four races at the 2.66-mile track.

But one of the untold stories of the 2003 season is how close Kevin Harvick has come to scoring victories in all three plate races this year.

Harvick has finished fourth, second and ninth in the three plate races this year, and he nearly beat Earnhardt Jr. this spring at Talladega.

Kevin Harvick is going to be tough for Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. to catch.

Get this stat: Harvick has completed every one of the laps in the last 10 races. That's 2,917 laps.

Under Dale Earnhardt, Richard Childress Racing had a reputation as the most reliable cars in the garage, and Harvick is extending that image to a new generation.

	Bobby Labonte

Matt Kenseth has failed to complete just two laps in 2003. He finished 22nd, one lap down, at Martinsville and he finished 12th, a lap down, at Chicagoland

In 2000, Bobby Labonte received a lot of media attention for failing to complete just nine laps on his way to the title.

Completing laps is not always necessary to winning the title – Tony Stewart won in 2002 despite failing to complete 344 laps.

One of the remarkable aspects of Kenseth's season is his steady showing on the plate tracks, where he was downright terrible in 2002.

Kenseth was 20th at Daytona -- and his finish would have been a lot better had it not rained -- and he was ninth at Talladega and sixth in the summer Daytona event.

In 2002, Kenseth finished better than 30th just once in the four plate races.

Busch Series: Off weekend

Brian Vickers is finally in the points lead, but it should have happened weeks ago.

This has been a long time coming. Vickers leads all series regulars in wins (3) and top-10s (17).

The bad thing is that Vickers was really hurt by Pikes Peak. Vickers was running second when a lapped car stopped in the middle of the track – and Vickers plowed into him, turning a sure top-five finish into a 29th-place disaster.

Kasey Kahne has scored more points in the series in the last six races than anyone except Vickers.

Unfortunately, Kahne will have a hard time catching Bobby Hamilton Jr. for sixth place in the standings – Hamilton Jr. is 207 points ahead of him.

Craftsman Truck Series: Las Vegas

He hasn't won in five races, but Las Vegas resident Brendan Gaughan appears unlikely to lose the points lead at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Gaughan has started second or better in all five of those races, and his worse finish in than span is seventh.

Travis Kvapil is second in the standings because he is doing what Mike Bliss did last year – complete laps. Bliss completed all but 22 laps in 2002 en route to the title.

Kvapil has completed every lap this year except one, while Gaughan's setbacks have come at Dover (41 laps, accident) and Gateway (40 laps, engine).