Like everyone else, Matt Kenseth is hoping to catch and pass Jeff Burton this weekend. Credit: Autostock

Nobody giving up on title with Kansas on horizon

Kenseth looks to lead Roush brigade, climb back to top of points

Don't look for a hangover when Matt Kenseth fires his engine on Sunday.

After coasting to the checkered flag last weekend at Dover, a 10th-place finish wasn't what his team had in mind. It wasn't what anybody had in mind following his drive through the field from 19th to first and then dominating until six laps were left. Jeff Burton passed him, Kenseth ran out of gas with one to go and the rest is history.

Jeff Gordon's 6.0 average finish at Kansas is the best among Chase drivers. Credit: Autostock

Chase for the Nextel Cup Heading to Kansas (3rd of 10 races) Pos. +/- Driver Behind 1. +4 Jeff Burton Leader 2. +2 Jeff Gordon -6 3. -- Matt Kenseth -18 4. -2 Denny Hamlin -18 5. -4 Kevin Harvick -54 6. -- Mark Martin -75 7. -- D. Earnhardt Jr. -102 8. +1 Jimmie Johnson -136 9. -1 Kasey Kahne -182 10. -- Kyle Busch -224 • Complete standings, click here SUPERSTORE •   2006 Chase driver hats! NASCAR MinuteCan Jimmie Johnson battle back into Chase contention? Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

Had Kenseth not spent his fuel and hung on for a top-five, he likely would have the points lead heading into Sunday's Banquet 400 at Kansas (1:30 p.m. ET, NBC).

"I understand everyone's frustration," said crew chief Robbie Reiser, who made the call to stretch Kenseth's car 101 laps on fuel. "Believe me, there was nobody more frustrated than I was, but we'll put this behind us."

Kansas is a good way to do that.

The No. 17 team heads to the Midwest third in the standings, but only trailing Burton by 18 points.

Kenseth started from the pole at Kansas last year, led 71 laps and wound up fifth in a race that saw Mark Martin collect his 35th career victory and Roush Racing take four of the top five positions. A repeat of that may be tough, considering it was the only year Roush played its cards right at the 1.5-miler -- prior to last season, Roush drivers had just one top-five at Kansas.

"Kansas has been a little bit of a hiccup for us in the past," said Kenseth, whose average finish at the track is 19.4.

Of course, it's been that way for nearly everyone else, too.

Of the 10 Chase drivers, only second-place Jeff Gordon and sixth-place Mark Martin have victories at Kansas. And Kenseth is the only other Chaser to collect a top-five finish.

Burton's average finish there is 19.2, fifth-best among Chase drivers. That's good for Kenseth if he plans on gaining ground. The bad part for him is that Gordon's 6.0 average finish is hands-down the best among Chasers, as nobody else has an average better than 14th.

Everybody, however, else is still thinking championship.

"We're 102 points out, so we need some really good races the next few weeks," said Dale Earnhardt Jr., who has started the Chase with finishes of 13th and 21st. "It has been a really frustrating Chase for us. We're in seventh place, but by no means out of contention."

Chase Watch Kansas statistics for Chase drivers Rank Driver W T5 T10 Avg. Fin. 1. Burton 0 0 0 19.2 2. J. Gordon 2 3 4 6.0 3. Kenseth 0 1 2 19.4 4. Hamlin 0 0 0 32.0 5. Harvick 0 0 1 18.4 6. Martin 1 1 2 14.4 7. Earnhardt 0 0 2 20.0 8. Johnson 0 0 3 13.8 9. Kahne 0 0 0 15.5 10. Ky. Busch 0 0 0 29.0 Fantasy ReportMarty Smith and Danielle Frye share their picks for Kansas FedEx PreviewNASCAR.COM's Duane Cross previews the action at Kansas Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

Some have written Jimmie Johnson off, too. Two years ago, Johnson crashed in this race and left 247 points out of the lead. He made it up in those final six races (Kansas was race No. 30 that year) and lost the title to Kurt Busch by eight points.

This year, with seven races left he's 136 points out.

"We are way too far out of first to have any strategy other than to maximize points every race," said Johnson, whose average finish at Kansas is 13.8. "But we are close enough that if we do that at the rest of the Chase races we are going to be fine.

"Kansas is a good track for us. I think it's a track where we can make up some ground on the guys leading this."

That's Kenseth's plan, too.

And with Kenseth's top-five from last year combined with Gordon's average finish, a late-race dance may be interesting considering Kansas is often called the sister to Chicagoland.

Remember it was Chicagoland where Gordon spun Kenseth with four laps to go and went on to take the victory.

"The two tracks are similar, and it seems when we run well at one, we run well at the other," said Gordon, who took heavy heat for the bump-and-run. "As well as we ran at Chicago, we feel we should be close this weekend."

But for Kenseth, there'll be no vendetta against Gordon. The only taste he's trying to get out of his mouth is from last weekend.

"It sounds funny to say, 'We'll bounce back this weekend,' when we finished with a top-10 last week, but as everyone knows we had the dominant car and didn't win, and that's always frustrating," said Kenseth, who will drive the same car he finished second with at Indianapolis.

Added Reiser: "If we can go out Sunday, run up front, be a contender and maybe improve on last year's finish, that will be the best way to put last week behind us."