Matt Kenseth opened 2004 with a bang, as he won two of the first three events. Credit: Autostock

Consistent Kenseth a top contender for crown

Despite the fact that he's had a few more short-circuits in 2004 than he did in his championship season of 2003, Matt Kenseth was again Mr. Consistency in his Race to the Chase.

Matt Kenseth 2004 Stats Driver Page Ford Driver's Eye Gillette Young Guns Challenge

In the first four races of the season, he finished no worse than ninth and won twice, taking the point lead after winning at Las Vegas. Over the first 12 races of the season, Mr. Roboto had finished half of them in the top five and logged nine top-10s, with finishes of 42nd (Talladega) and 31st (Darlington) thrown in.

It was over the next six races where Kenseth's bulletproof patina started to tarnish a bit.

After that blazing start, Kenseth had just one top-10 finish, a seventh at Michigan, to show. He eventually shook off the mid-season blues and rallied for five top-10s in the next six races, including a fourth-place run at New Hampshire.

The entire Roush team struggled at various times with the new engine package team owner Jack Roush and Robert Yates cooked up, but in Kenseth's case it was more simply a matter of the law of averages.

After last year's near-perfect run, he was due for some bad luck. Much of that bad luck found him at Dover in June -- as it found a number of contenders -- with a late-race crash. For the season, he won twice (in the first four races) and added seven top-fives and 15 top-10s.

Daytona 500: He finished in the top 10 again, coming home ninth. It was to be the worst news Kenseth had over the next three races.

Subway 400 at Rockingham: At the track where he first caught the attention of the NASCAR mainstream, Kenseth led the most laps and won his first race of the season. It was at this race last year where Kenseth assumed the point lead, which he held the rest of the way. Through the second Richmond race, Kenseth would fall no lower than fifth in the standings.

UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas: It's a good bet the rest of the field wished that Kenseth would return to finishing quietly in the top 10 every race instead of kicking tail as he did for the second straight race. He also continued Roush Racing's dominance of the Las Vegas oval. He also took the point lead from Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta: A sixth-place finish had to be sort of a letdown, and so was the fact that for the first time in 2004 he failed to lead a lap.

Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 at Darlington: The first glitch of the season, as he finished four laps down in 31st.

Food City 500 at Bristol: Back to old Mr. Automatic. He was fifth at a place where some drivers fear to tread.

Samsung/Radio Shack 500 at Texas: Two laps down in 16th was not the kind of welcome he wanted from TMS, but he still led the points.

Advance Auto Parts 500 at Martinsville: Despite an eighth-place finish, he lost the point lead to Earnhardt.

Aaron's 499 at Talladega: The loud noise you heard was the engine letting go on the DeWalt Tools Ford. Here's 42nd place, thanks for playing after 59 laps.

Auto Club 500 at California: Shaking off Talladega, Kenseth was the best Ford at California in fourth place.

Chevy American Revolution 400 at Richmond: Another top-five, Kenseth was the best Ford again in fifth.

Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's: Jimmie Johnson was in a class of his own, so Kenseth settled for third place.

MBNA 400 at Dover: A late-race crash triggered some choice words from Kenseth, who sat in his crashed car on the front straight for several minutes while safety workers concentrated on the mess in Turn 4. He finally got out and walked back to the pits, stopping to vent at least once on the way, without having been checked by medical personnel. He was 22nd, by the way.

Pocono 500: At Pocono, he played dump-me, dump-you with Kevin Harvick and wound up 21st. He led a lap in between spats. NASCAR was not amused, however, and warned both drivers that no such further nonsense would be tolerated.

DHL 400 at Michigan: He always runs well at Michigan, and this was no different, logging a seventh-place finish and stemmed the bleeding from Dover and Pocono.

Dodge/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma: Most drivers will take a top-20 finish on a road course, and Kenseth did just that -- 20th.

Pepsi 400 at Daytona: The curse of the restrictor-plate tracks continued, as Kenseth was caught in a crash and finished 39th.

Tropicana 400 at Chicagoland: Rebounding to 12th, Kenseth shrugged off the last six races and prepared for the stretch run.

Siemens 300 at New Hampshire: Although he did not lead, he finished fourth, perking up considerably in the heat of battle.

Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono: He and Harvick behaved themselves this time, and Kenseth brought it home eighth.

Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis: This was a good race to have trouble, as so many other top cars did, except Jeff Gordon. He was 16th at the finish. Gordon said last year that it was tough to do anything with Kenseth when a bad day for him was 14th. This is more of the same.

Sirius at the Glen: He made the top 10 at Watkins Glen, finishing ninth.

GFS Marketplace 400 at Michigan: He didn't lead, but he did finish eighth, his fourth top-10 in the past five races.

Sharpie 500 at Bristol: On a night when some strange things happened, Kenseth came home ninth again, safely in the points and getting ready for the final push. With two races to go, he was fifth in points, 224 behind Gordon for the lead.

Pop Secret 500 at California: Not much to brag about, finishing 22nd. Kenseth also runs well at Richmond.

Chevy Rock and Roll 400 at Richmond: He was 28th, three laps down, but it figured that he was getting his bad luck out of the way early to focus on the final 10 races.