Kenseth, 17 team back in a big way after off year in '08

He doesn't do backflips and he doesn't make people flinch.

But after the first two races of the 2009 Sprint Cup season, driver Matt Kenseth has accomplished a rare feat -- winning both the Daytona 500 and the race following it. Prior to Kenseth's victory in Sunday's Auto Club 500, that had been done only three times in the 60-year history of NASCAR.

Richard Petty did it in 1973, Cale Yarborough in 1977 and Jeff Gordon in 1997. The latter two went on to win championships in those seasons, which bodes well for the mild-mannered but highly competitive Kenseth, who entered this season hungering for Victory Lane after getting starved out all of last season for the first time since 2002.

When Petty and Yarborough pulled their unique doubles, the Daytona 500 wasn't even the season-opening race. It wasn't until 1982 that Daytona replaced Riverside as the season-opening venue, meaning that what Kenseth accomplished Sunday actually has been done only one other time -- when Gordon did it in 1997.

You remember what Gordon did in '97, don't you? He went on to win a series-high 10 races and the second of his four championships.

(Note: Three other drivers -- Marvin Panch in 1957, Bob Welborn in 1959 and David Pearson in 1976 -- also won the first two races of the season. Neither of Panch's victories came at Daytona. Welborn's second win was a Daytona qualifier; Pearson won the 500 after opening the year with a win at Riverside. None, however, won a championship in those respective years).

Kenseth isn't one to talk himself or his car up too much. That just isn't his style. And just because he's won the first two races of the season doesn't mean NASCAR should call a halt to the season and award him the championship trophy. There are too many races left; too much that can go wrong -- although no one needs to remind Kenseth of that.

"I kind of have a bad habit, I guess," he told reporters following Sunday's triumph. "People call me a pessimist; I think I'm more of a realist."

The reality at the moment is this: By capturing the first two events, Kenseth has served notice that he and his No. 17 Ford team for Roush Fenway Racing are a force that will have to be reckoned with this season.

Good company

Only two drivers have made the Chase each year since it was put in place -- largely because of the wide margin by which Kenseth won the last non-Chase championship in 2003, when fans were said to have lost interest down the stretch of the season because Kenseth's name already was engraved on the aforementioned trophy.

One of those two drivers is Jimmie Johnson, the three-time defending champion who is attempting this season to become the first driver in the history of the sport to win four consecutive titles.

The other is Kenseth. (Continued)