Three-peat? Kenseth seeking to match Gordon

Three straight wins last accomplished in 1998

ATLANTA -- President Teddy Roosevelt was credited for making the phrase "Speak softly and carry a big stick."

The NASCAR translation might be something like this: "Shut up and drive."

Whichever one you like, Matt Kenseth seems to be living by that standard these days. Kenseth isn't a big publicity hound, but his driving so far in 2004 has spoken volumes.

If 2003's championship didn't prove Kenseth's worth as a driver, his start in 2004 has. His two victories are already more than last year, but it was the way he won those races that said something.

Kenseth didn't just win them, he dominated.

Matt Kenseth  Driver Page  Video Highlights  Merchandise

Yes, the Subway 400 at North Carolina Speedway was close, but Kenseth was out front for 259 of the 393 laps. And last week at Las Vegas, Kenseth led 123 of the 267 laps.

Combine those with the two laps he led at Daytona, and Kenseth has been out front 384 laps in 2004. In case you were wondering, that's 30 more than all of last year.

Yes, it's clear Kenseth and his Roush Racing team had something to prove his year.

"I don't think we can try any harder than we were trying last year, but we do have better stuff this year than what we had last year, and that's helped," Kenseth said. "But some of that stuff irritated me a little bit.

	Kenseth: "Things really have to go right to be able to win any of these races, especially a 500-mile race at Atlanta."

"Honestly, I'm the type of person that probably lets things bother me too much, although I'm starting to get over that. It probably irritated us all a little bit, and I think it's all actually been channeled into positive energy. It has our guys fired up.

"It had (crew chief) Robbie (Reiser) fired up, and it has me fired up to go out and show the few naysayers that there were to prove them wrong and show them we can go and win races and that we can try to win a championship under whatever system they give us."

Kenseth won one race last year and ran away with the championship. But there was some criticism because of the one-victory championship, and NASCAR up and changed the way the champion is decided for 2004.

The much-publicized "Nextel Chase for the Championship" will pit the top 10 in the points standings (plus whoever is 400 points out of the lead) after 26 races in the title chase for the final 10 events.

Critics said they only reason the system was changed was because of Kenseth's surgical approach to the championship. And he took it personally.

"Everybody is more enthused about trying to win a championship this year than what they were last year, and that's a good feeling," Kenseth said. "That doesn't mean we can do it and that doesn't mean that things won't go wrong.

"It doesn't say we'll necessarily keep doing this, but we're certainly gonna try, and everybody is certainly working really hard at it and is really fired up about our year."

That's been pretty obvious through three races. Kenseth and his No. 17 team are on a mission.

"To win two in a row was something we'd never done before," Kenseth said. "To win two races in a year, I think, is very difficult. To win two in a row is more difficult, so it's pretty cool we've won the first two non-restrictor plate races of the year.

"It makes me feel real confident about our equipment and all the guys have done over the winter, so it was pretty cool.

"I was pretty fired up, and I'm still pretty fired up. I've had a lot of fun the last two weeks racing, even Daytona, but especially the last two weeks I've had a blast. We've had such good cars and great engines. They've been so much fun to drive that I can't wait to get to the track every week."

Atlanta Motor Speedway  Track Page

This weekend in the Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Kenseth will try to make it three in a row -- something that hasn't been done in six years in NASCAR's top division, when Jeff Gordon won four consecutive races. Gordon went on to win 13 races that year.

Kenseth has never started or finished higher than fourth at Atlanta, but with the way he's been running lately, there is no reason to expect anything less than an excellent run.

"You never know," Kenseth said. "Things really have to go right to be able to win any of these races, especially a 500-mile race at Atlanta. It's a real hard place on parts and pieces and especially engines.

Contests and Sweepstakes  Gillette Young Guns Challenge

"You just have to have everything go right, but Atlanta is one of my favorite tracks to go to. I'm really looking forward to going there. It's a track I just love to race at.

"There are a lot of grooves during the race. If you're faster than the guy in front of you, there's definitely room on the track to pass them, so it's a great track to do passing at and it's real fast.

"It rewards a guy's setup real good. It's still an aerodynamic track and a horsepower track, but it's really more than anything a handling track, so hopefully we can get our stuff to run like we did the last few weeks and maybe we'll have a shot."