Kenseth Closes in on Winston Cup Title

[Mom23boys]

By KEITH PARSONS
Compuserve Sports

HAMPTON, Ga. (AP) - Matt Kenseth gave his backup engine to teammate Mark Martin, who completed only 159 laps before it failed. Then Kevin Harvick, the closest challenger to Kenseth in the chase for the Winston Cup championship, got caught in a wreck with a lapped car and dropped off the pace.

Kenseth avoided all of those problems - again - and moved to the cusp of his first title.

He finished 11th in the rain-interrupted Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Monday, an event won by Jeff Gordon. The result left Kenseth with a 258-point lead over Dale Earnhardt Jr., who leapfrogged Harvick by finishing sixth.

If Earnhardt gets the maximum points in the final three races - wins and leads the most laps in all of them - Kenseth can finish 21st in each and still win the championship.

[AmyMCGS]

Whoo-hoo!! #17 was my pick a couple of years ago when I first started watching NASCAR. I knew nothing about the sport then, I just liked him and the way he came out of a near-crash when I was watching a race-- he did a loop in the grass, turned himself around, and went on without missing a beat. He's been my favorite ever since then.