Rusty Jarrett / Getty Images file

Matt Kenseth is out to answer critics who took issue with his Winston Cup championship season of a year ago because he won only one race, says Allen Bestwick of NBCSports.com.

They are friendly rivals, drivers from the same generation who came to NASCAR’s top level at the same time. Having raced against each other in pursuit of a Cup championship for several seasons, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Matt Kenseth know each other well, both on and off the track. The two have gotten off to the best starts in the 2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series and they top my list of the hottest drivers.

STREAKING

MATT KENSETH
The defending Cup champion was the focus of some criticism last season in that he only scored one race win en route to the title.

Kenseth has already equaled his 2003 victory total, not only winning but dominating last Sunday’s race at Rockingham, leading 259 of 292 laps.

Adding Sunday’s win to his ninth-place finish in the Daytona 500, Kenseth rose to second place in the championship standings, a mere seven points behind his friend and rival, Earnhardt Jr.

And when the Nextel Cup series resumes racing on March 7, it will be at Las Vegas Speedway, the track where Kenseth picked up his lone win last season.

DALE EARNHARDT JR.
Junior accomplished something this past weekend.

No, I haven’t lost track of time and I am fully aware his Daytona 500 win wasn't last Sunday but rather the Sunday before.

But what Junior did at Rockingham last Sunday was conquer a track that has given him fits during his career.

Prior to last Sunday’s Subway 400, the best finish Junior had recorded in eight races at the North Carolina Speedway, nicknamed "Rockingham" was a 13th-place result.

The poor showings at the Rock were the cause of a great deal of frustration, both from Junior and from his team.

His strong fifth-place finish in the season's second race has put all the Rockingham difficulties in the rear view mirror, as well as kept the driver of the No. 8 Chevrolet atop the early-season championship standings.

KURT BUSCH
The Las Vegas native has shown good speed in this year’s first two races.

After making contact with Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s No. 8 Chevrolet and thus having to pit to repair fender damage, Busch raced with the leaders the rest of the way in the Daytona 500, clearly having one of the fastest cars in the field, despite being one lap down.

Last Sunday at Rockingham, Busch rose from the 27th-starting spot into the lead group and raced there all day, ending up with an eighth-place result.

With fast cars in both of the opening races and a seventh-place standing in the championship points, keep an eye on Busch as the circuit heads to his home town for the next race on March 7.

Busch would like to make up for last year in the desert, when his No. 97 Ford finished a dismal 38th after getting caught up in a multi-car wreck more than halfway through the race.

RYAN NEWMAN
Rocket Man is on my list for one simple reason: I’m looking for him to pick up where he left off last year, winning races and pole positions by the handful.

In evaluating Newman, I set aside Daytona, where he simply continues to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, this year finishing 31st.

At Rockingham on Feb. 22, Newman picked up his first pole position of the season and ran in the top 10 for about the entire race, recording a sixth-place finish.

Look for that solid result to be just the beginning of a very successful season for the South Bend, Ind. native, who could make a strong run at the Cup championship.

JAMIE McMURRAY
I’m looking for this driver and his team to win a race or two this season, and they almost picked one off on Feb. 22 at Rockingham.

McMurray scored an impressive third-place finish at the North Carolina track.

He was right on the bumper of race winner Kenseth and second-place finisher Kasey Kahne.

I think McMurray and his veteran crew chief, Donnie Wingo, have their act together and will be holding a trophy sometime soon.

McMurray and his Chip Ganassi Racing team finished 2003 very solidly, with eight top-10 finishes in the last 13 weeks, and they are showing they’ve kept that momentum over the offseason.

STRUGGLING

JEFF BURTON
So far, 2004 has not been kind to the likeable Virginian.

His team entered the season without enough sponsorship to run the full year, and though the team is confident they’re close to signing same, it still has to be a shadow hanging uncomfortably over their heads.

The on-track results through two races haven’t been as desired, either, with an early engine failure in the Daytona 500 followed by contact with a teammates’ car that resulted in damage and, eventually, another engine problem.

Burton and company have already about used up their share of “DNF's,” if they have hopes of qualifying for The Chase for the Championship.

ROBBY GORDON
At Daytona, Gordon ended up caught in the big pileup on the backstretch around the 200-mile mark of the race, resulting in a 35th-place finish.

At Rockingham, Gordon tangled with another car off the track’s very tricky Turn 2 and ended up crashing heavily, ending his race with a 36th-place result.

With a new crew chief and a pit crew that is mostly new to him, Gordon could use a decent run at Las Vegas on March 7 to get his and the team’s confidence up after a rough start.

MICHAEL WALTRIP
The grinding, flipping crash in the Daytona 500 unfortunately wasn’t the end of the February troubles for Waltrip.

At Rockingham, a rear gear failed in his car, resulting in a 33rd-place finish.

Waltrip is a perfect example of how a good Daytona 500 result can launch a team into the season in a good groove and why a bad outing in The Great American Race can get the year off to a rocky start.

Last year Waltrip won the Daytona 500 and spent nearly all season inside the top 10 in points.

This year, he got put on his roof at Daytona, and after trouble in another early-season race, he has a big deficit to overcome before the season is even three races old.

DALE JARRETT
Last week I put DJ on my streaking list based on a decent Daytona Speedweeks drawing the team out of the horrible 2003 they suffered through.

At Rockingham, Jarrett looked very strong again, but didn’t get a result to show for it.

While contending for the win just past halfway in the race, the engine in the No. 88 Ford failed, leaving Jarrett with a 40th-place finish.

That’s the kind of bad luck he struggled with all last season, and here’s hoping the misfortune is only a temporary visitor this time, unlike the persistent pest it became a year ago.

RICKY CRAVEN
Rockingham is one of the New Englander’s best tracks, but it sure didn’t work out that way this year.

Craven finished a disappointing 35th, continuing a trend of struggles going back to last fall in which he has ended up 30th or worse in nine of the last 11 races.

Craven’s team changed from Pontiac to Chevrolet over the winter, signing David Charpentier, a team engineer from Dale Earnhardt Incorporated, as it’s new crew chief, all positives.

However, they’re still a single-car team, as efforts by team owner Cal Wells to find sponsorship to add a second car came up dry.

Hopefully, Craven and company can overcome the lack of a teammate and return to Victory Lane, as they did last March at Darlington.