Benny Parsons

It's been a frustrating season for Matt Kenseth, whose charge to make the Chase for the Nextel Cup Championship is probably a case of too little too late.

Climbing out of a hole
Kenseth, the 2003 Cup champion, has six top-10 finishes since the start of June.

He's made his way up from 24th to 16th in the championship standings, but with only five races before the cut-off for qualifying for the Chase, Kenseth is 165 points shy of 10th place.

If by the end of the Richmond race on Sept. 10 Kenseth is not in the top 10 in the standings or within 400 points of the leader, he won't qualify for the Chase -- NASCAR's 10-race playoff to determine this year's Cup champion.

If that happens, it will be one of the bigger surprises of the season as few were expecting Kenseth to fall off in 2005.

Last year he followed up his championship season by qualifying for the inaugural Chase, and wound up eighth in points.

But this season for Kenseth and his team it's been too little of the good, and too much of the bad and the ugly.

Factors in a downward turn
What's happened to Kenseth this year is a combination of things that have added up to take points and wins away from the driver many thought would have the most success of the five Roush Racing entries.

Instead, Kenseth is winless and he and crew chief Robbie Reiser are trying to figure out why their performance is the poorest of the five Roush Cup teams.

Reiser admits that the No. 17 Ford has lacked consistency, but there's no one reason for that.

With Kenseth it's been bad luck, bad judgement, and in a couple of instances bad preparation.

Also, Kenseth doesn't qualify well, and that's beginning to really hurt him.

In the past he had the knack for bringing his car to the front regardless of its starting position, but those sorts of efforts have not come on a regular basis this season.

Despite their frustration and disappointment, I don't think that Kenseth and Reiser have to push the panic button as I think they are now running well enough to start winning.

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Through his first 11 races this year, Kenseth had only one top-10 result (eighth at Las Vegas), and an average finish of 22nd.

Over his next 11 races, he posted six top 10s, and his average finish improved to 15.5.

Many have written off Kenseth when it comes to making the Chase, but the driver and his team believe they still have a chance to qualify for the playoff.

Well, maybe they do, but I don't think so.

Kenseth's focus not always on racing
Kenseth's on-the-track difficulties have included a crash with future teammate Jamie McMurray, an incident that has left McMurray angry with Kenseth.

Roush Racing has signed McMurray, who is under contract to Chip Ganassi Racing for another year, to a deal beginning with the 2007 season.

McMurray feels Kenseth ran into the back of his car early in the July 17 race at New Hampshire International Speedway, causing him to spin into the wall, finish 40th and drop out of the top 10 in the standings.

Kenseth said he was wrong, but he also thought a portion of blame should go on McMurray.

In any case, Kenseth called McMurray to apologize, but was unable to reach him, and the message he left hasn't helped as the two drivers haven't spoken since the incident. 

Kenseth is also disappointed that he had to learn from a Web site of McMurray's deal to join Roush Racing.

This is a small sore that could become a big sore if it isn't taken care of, so I would expect that Kenseth and Jack Roush will at some point discuss the driver's feelings over how the hiring of McMurray was handled.

Kenseth is in his sixth full season of Cup racing with Roush, and his deal is up after next year.

He's been linked by rumors to open rides throughout NASCAR's so-called silly season, but he says he's happy at Roush Racing. 

So while this season has been a struggle, next year might very well find Kenseth, Reiser and the No. 17 team in a bounce-back mode.

With his smarts and natural ability, Kenseth should be able to get back on course next season.

Q: If Robert Yates Racing and Roush Racing are sharing information, why is it that the Roush cars have won more races than the Yates cars? I wonder if those at Roush Racing are holding back some information.
— Henry Laubach, Baltimore Md.  

A: I have to put an end to any conspiracy theory in regards to the relationship between Roush Racing and Robert Yates Racing.

They joined forces so that Ford could put all of its efforts behind one engine operation, but they are only sharing engine technology.

What's making the difference in the results achieved by Roush Racing as compared to those posted by Robert Yates Racing are factors other than the engines.

It could be the chassis, the shocks, or whatever makes one car faster than the other cars in a given race.

It's a hit-or-miss thing, and it's not an exact science by any means.

To say that Yates racers Dale Jarrett and Elliott Sadler are not winning as much as their counterparts at Roush because information is being kept from them regarding their engines is totally false.

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