After earning the Winston Cup championship last season with only one race win, Matt Kenseth had to endure an endless media debate over how deserving a champion he was. He also had to watch as the points system was changed for this season, something any of us would have taken as a slap in the face. As if to answer his critics, the likeable Kenseth has produced a dominating start to the new season, winning at Rockingham (N.C.) and Las Vegas. While Kenseth is riding high, there are others who already are on the slippery slope, still looking for their footing in 2004.

STREAKING

MATT KENSETH
Kenseth has dominated, leading nearly sixty percent of the laps in the two races he has won.

If the above didn’t tell you the defending Cup champion is very hot right, consider this: Kenseth’s average finish and championship standing at this point of 2004 are already better than they were one year ago this time, when he was en route to winning the title.

After leaving Victory Lane in Las Vegas, Kenseth said, “It’s been a fun two weeks, the most fun I’ve had in a race car in my life.”

Hopefully the fun makes up for some of the sting last fall’s criticism caused.

Kenseth’s worst finish this season is ninth and that came in the Daytona 500.

He leads Tony Stewart by 88 points in the championship standings.

KASEY KAHNE
In three career NASCAR Nextel Cup races, this 23-year-old rookie has two second-place finishes, coming home behind Matt Kenseth at Las Vegas and Rockingham.

The No. 9 Dodge owned by Ray Evernham finished 2003 strong with Bill Elliott behind the wheel.

With Elliott now running only a partial schedule in the No. 91 car, Kahne has taken over the No. 9 car and he and his crew chief, Tommy Baldwin, have picked up where Elliott left off.

It appears to only be a matter of time before Kahne adds his name to the elite roster of race winners at NASCAR top level.

JAMIE MCMURRAY
The personable Missouri native and his team really began their current hot streak in the last months of the 2003 season when they reeled off several top-10 finishes that moved them up seven places in the championship standings over the season’s final 10 weeks.

McMurray has gotten 2004 off to a solid start, continuing that momentum, pushing beyond Daytona 500 troubles to record finishes of third at Rockingham and fourth at Las Vegas.

McMurray cracked the top 10 in the championship standings with his Las Vegas performance, and he could be pretty tough to push out of that elite group of drivers for the rest of the season.

TONY STEWART
Fast race cars and a driver who seems to be pretty upbeat about things make Stewart one to watch as the fight for the Nextel Cup championship develops.

The 2002 Cup champion has a pair of top-three finishes in the season’s opening trio of races, his second-place result at Daytona backed by a strong third-place effort at Las Vegas.

Stewart is second in the championship standings at this point and since his past record is one of starting seasons slowly with big results coming later in the year, the strong effort out of the box in 2004 speaks well for a title bid.

DALE EARNHARDT JR.
Certainly this ranking is not based on Junior’s performance last Sunday at Las Vegas, where his car handled so poorly he finished 35th, 71 laps behind the winner after making several trips to the garage for major chassis changes.

That said, Junior still has two top-five finishes in the season’s first three races, one of only five drivers to have accomplished that feat.

The other four are listed above, so Junior is still very much a deserving part of this group, and will look to bounce back in Atlanta this Sunday.

STRUGGLING

MICHAEL WALTRIP
The difficulties that have been 2004 for Waltrip continued last Sunday at Las Vegas.

Waltrip’s car was nicked from behind by Bill Elliott’s, just enough to send Waltrip for a backwards ride into the Turn 4 retaining wall and out of the race with a heavily damaged car.

The 37th-place result from Las Vegas adds to a mechanical failure, which caused a 33rd-place Rockingham placing and a 38th-place Daytona 500 finish -- you remember Waltrip’s spectacular, flipping exit from that race.

Suffice it to say things aren’t going the way Mikey had hoped for.

RYAN NEWMAN
Newman won eight times in 2003 and was the preseason pick of many to win the 2004 Cup championship.

The Purdue graduate hasn’t yet been able to pick up this season where he left off last year, with finishes of 31st, sixth and 27th.

At Las Vegas, Newman fought handling problems all race, saying he felt fortunate to keep his car “off the wall.”

He ended up two laps behind the leader when the checkers waved.

ROBBY GORDON
Things are tough right now for Gordon.

His first three races of the season have all resulted in finishes of 30th or worse, with last Sunday’s 30th-place effort at Las Vegas being the best posting so far.

Perhaps Atlanta will be more kind.

JEFF GREEN
At Las Vegas, Green’s car carried sponsorship from “Lucky Charms,” the General Mills cereal brand.

Tasty as they are, they weren’t able to help the former NASCAR Busch Series champion break a tough run of luck he’s in.

While having a decent run, Green ended up in the Turn 1 wall late in last Sunday’s race, heavily damaging the No. 43 car of Petty Enterprises.

The result was a 34th-place finish, which combined with 33rd and 28th-place efforts posted in the season’s opening two races, left Green looking for lucky charms of a different sort before Sunday’s Atlanta race.

SCOTT RIGGS
Riggs is one of the most personable people you’ll ever meet and he came to the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series as a rookie this season after successful campaigns on both the NASCAR Busch Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

The going has been slow so far, though, with Riggs not able to muster anything better than a 29th-place finish.

This team is almost completely revamped from last season and sometimes it takes a couple of months to get things completely sorted out -- but that's something that’s tough to do when you get no slack racing against the best each weekend.

MORE FROM NASCAR / MOTORS

NASCAR / Motors Section Front

Dale Jr. says he’d like to race in Indy 500 Busch questions if Stewart deserved July 4 win Vickers takes pole at Chicagoland Johnson shoots for Chicagoland checkered flag Johnson loosens up with video, crack at Phelps Mayfield considers selling race team Mayfield case puts spotlight on NASCAR drug policy Eury Jr. calls split with Junior the right one Sadler expects smoother roads ahead at Petty F1 Teams Association walks out of FIA meeting NASCAR / Motors Section Front   Add NASCAR / Motors headlines to your news reader: