Kenseth needs big finish to bookend his big '09 start

Matt Kenseth absolutely owned the first two weeks of the 2009 Cup Series season. Now, if he wants to remain in contention for this year's series championship, he'd better assert ownership of the final two weeks of the pre-Chase portion of the schedule.

And that portion starts this weekend with Sunday's Pep Boys Auto 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

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It was an uneasy courtesy laugh that Kenseth issued this week when he was asked about his current circumstances. Probably because he, too, has a tough time figuring out just how those circumstances have come about.

Kenseth won the Daytona 500 in February and followed that up with a victory at Auto Club Speedway in California.

What a high. People joked about Kenseth being the first driver to win every race in '09. His usually dour team owner, Jack Roush, joked about how new crew chief Drew Blickensderfer may finish his career undefeated.

The joking ended in Week 3 when Kenseth suffered an engine failure just after taking the green flag at Las Vegas. His finishing position was 43rd. Last.

In the next three races, he finished 12th at Atlanta, 33rd at Bristol and 23rd at Martinsville, and the battle to stay Chase-relevant was on. When Kenseth takes the green flag Sunday, he will do so barely clinging to the 12th and final playoff spot.

Behind him in the standings are four hard-chargers who are within 161 points of him. Two of those drivers -- Kyle Busch and Brian Vickers -- are 34 and 39 points back, respectively.

That is, they are just a dropped lug nut from catching and passing him in points.

Hence Wednesday's uneasy laugh and response when asked if, after the race in Fontana, he thought he would have to be clawing and thrashing just to earn a berth in this year's Chase.

"No," Kenseth said, "not after the first two weeks."

And not the way the Roush Fords were running the first two weeks -- Greg Biffle was fifth in points after Fontana, David Ragan was eighth and Carl Edwards was ninth.

By the Numbers

Carl Edwards is just one of 11 drivers eyeing one of the nine spots remaining in the Chase.

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"You see a lot of people that have won the Daytona 500 and not have a very good rest of the season or be a championship contender and that type of thing," Kenseth said. "And then when we backed it up at California I was feeling pretty good flying home from California. I was like, 'Man, this is gonna be pretty cool. We're gonna have a real solid year and be a serious championship contender.' And then we went to Vegas and broke on the first lap.

"Honestly, ever since then it's just been a struggle. We've run good enough a few times to win races, if all the stars would have aligned -- which they didn't -- but then sometimes it's just been hard for us to get finishes for some reason. It's been uncharacteristic of this team. One thing that we were always known for, it seems like, is if we were having a mediocre day and running 13th, 14th or 15th, somehow we'd finish seventh, eighth or ninth and finish better than we were running all the time. This year, more times than not, it's been the opposite."

And not just for Kenseth and the No. 17 team at Roush Fenway. There have been zero victories by Roush's drivers since California. And now, only Edwards appears to be a lock for making the Chase.

Lucky for the Roush drivers that this weekend's race is located where it is.

Kenseth has never won at Atlanta, but he has 11 top-10 showings in 19 starts. And truth be known, he can probably nail down his Chase berth with a top-10 on Sunday and then another at Richmond next weekend.

"They're both really good race tracks. They're tracks I really enjoy going to," Kenseth said. "The way the year has gone, there isn't really one I go to that I have a ton more confidence than the next. We might go to one that I don't really think we're very good at and do OK, and we might go to one of our best ones and not do OK. So you never really know. You have to do the job each and every weekend, but, certainly, I enjoy both of the tracks coming up and I think they're probably two of the best tracks we really have on the circuit."

FIVE TO WATCH

Stewart

Tony Stewart, No. 14: Stewart has been kind of quiet the past two races. His best finish in that time was 17th at Michigan. Stewart is a two-time winner at Atlanta, and a victory this weekend sets him up nicely for the Chase.

Bill Elliott, No. 21: It is always fun watching Elliott race at Atlanta. It's like watching the Packers play at Lambeau. And the way he has been running in a reduced-schedule Wood Brothers Racing car, a victory is not impossible. It would be his sixth at the track.

Clint Bowyer, No. 33: This is it for Bowyer. He either stands on the podium this week or he sits out the Chase. He has been running well the past four races, and only a wreck at Bristol last time out has kept him from being a super-serious Chase chaser.

Jimmie Johnson, No. 48: Johnson has three victories at Atlanta, including a sweep in 2007. And, it's autumn. This is the time of the year where he and crew chief Chad Knaus start tinkering with racing magic.

Carl Edwards, No. 99: Atlanta is Edwardsville. He has won three times at the place and has eight top-10 finishes in 10 starts. He can clinch a Chase berth this weekend if he leaves Atlanta with a 196-point lead on 13th place. He's currently 199 points ahead of 13th-place Kyle Busch.

TRACK CHATTER

Vickers

Brian Vickers: "We accomplished our goal of reaching Victory Lane. We did that, and it was great ... great for the whole team, Toyota and everybody at Red Bull Racing Team. Now we just need to make the Chase, and we're capable of doing it. The goal has always been the Chase."

Greg Erwin, crew chief for Greg Biffle: "We were a little off on the setup at Atlanta earlier this year, but we've been working very hard to understand why that happened and how to fix it. I think we have a better understanding of the car and the setups we need this year in general than we did in March. So that paired with the knowledge we have gained away from the track makes me feel a lot more confident heading to Atlanta this weekend. ... We need a solid top-five finish this weekend, and I don't think that is out of reach."

Elliott Sadler: "It's great to have the Labor Day race back in the Southeast. Atlanta is a great race track -- it's fast, high-banked and multigrooved so you can run anywhere. I think the biggest thing this weekend is racing under the lights. It'll add speed to an already fast race track."