Kenseth takes big step toward championship

Seventh-place finish at The Rock will clinch title

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- The big sigh you heard from the Arizona desert came from Matt Kenseth and the rest of his Roush Racing team.

CHECKER AUTO PARTS 500  Dale Earnhardt Jr. held off Jimmie Johnson in the closing laps to win the Checker Auto Parts 500 on Sunday at Phoenix. It's the first non-restrictor plate victory for Dale Earnhardt Inc. since the fall race at Dover in 2001.  •  Complete story, click here  •  Results  •  Standings

Kenseth can breathe a little easier after finishing a solid sixth in Sunday's Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. Kenseth arrested a late-season free-fall, but that was only the icing.

Kenseth lost some ground to race winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. but still leads the NASCAR Winston Cup point standings by 228 points. He can clinch his first championship by finishing 30th or better in the final two races.

And Kenseth can wrap up the title in next week's Pop Secret 400 at North Carolina Speedway by finishing seventh or better.

Whew.

"It takes a lot of pressure off," Kenseth said. "If we would've got out of here with a 25th- or 30th-place finish and they would've gained a bunch of points on us, that would've been a lot more pressure on us.

	Kenseth's No. 17 Ford spent 28 of the 312 laps Sunday in the front row. Credit: Autostock

"There's still pressure -- there's still two races to go -- but it'll be a lot easier going to Rockingham and Homestead knowing that we don't have to finish quite as high."

Kenseth, standing on pit road moments after the race ended, didn't know where he needed to finish in the season's final two races to clinch the title. He'll figure that out soon enough.

The number that matters now is 4,250,000. That's how many dollars Kenseth and his team will pocket for winning the championship.

"I'm pretty excited now that we're out of here," Kenseth said. "I don't know where we need to finish; the 8 gained a few points on us. Where we need to finish is probably a pretty reasonable number unless we break stuff or crash. It's real attainable.

"Obviously, it's not over until it's over. I feel great about where we're at with two races to go."

Jimmie Johnson is third in the points, 241 behind Kenseth, with Jeff Gordon 300 back, Ryan Newman 329 behind and Kevin Harvick 351 out of the lead. For any of them to win the championship, well, they might need a miracle of biblical proportions.

That means Kenseth can probably start working on that speech for the NASCAR awards banquet, can start thinking about the phrase, "Matt Kenseth, 2003 Winston Cup champion."

"I'll probably think about a little bit more this week because we did get out of there with a good finish," Kenseth said. "And there's only two races to go, and we have a real healthy lead. Feel great about it right now. It can never be enough."

After next week, maybe it can be.

The past few races haven't been all that kind to Kenseth as his team has skidded toward the title. He blew an engine at Talladega and ended up 33rd, and followed that by finishing 36th at Kansas City, eighth Charlotte, 13th at Martinsville and 11th at Atlanta.

Even though he was out of the top five for the 10th consecutive race, Kenseth showed championship form Sunday at Phoenix. Moving steadily from his 37th starting spot, Kenseth didn't crack the top 10 until late in the race. Passing on the flat 1-mile oval is difficult, but Kenseth managed to move forward.

VIDEO CLIPS Junior celebrates his second win of the season Play video Hear from the top finishers at PIR Play video Junior cruises to the checkers at PIR Play video Kevin Harvick is involved in a four-car crash Play video Burton cuts a tire, Park hits the wall in separate cautions Play video Jimmy Spencer hits the wall hard Play video Newman and Junior play bumper tag in the early laps Play video

"We ran competitively all day," Kenseth said. "We had a car that maybe could've won. If we would've been up front, we would have been tough to beat. We haven't ran as good the last few weeks, so it feels good to come out and run competitively and at least have a car that in the right position would have a shot to win."

Kenseth said the car was good on restarts and needed short green-flag runs. In the final 100 laps, he got both: five cautions and no green run longer than 32 laps.

Finally, a good performance.

And another step closer to the championship.

"It really hasn't been that frustrating," Kenseth said. "Yeah, you want to run up front every week, but this is a very competitive sport. That's tough to do each and every week. I was happy to come back here and be competitive again.

"Feel great going to Rockingham. We've had great cars there in the past and look forward to going there next week and hopefully have a shot to win."

He's talking about the race, but he very easily could be talking about the title.