Matt Kenseth is running away with the Winston Cup championship.
Did you notice?
He padded his points lead Sunday at Pocono Raceway. Ho-hum, another top-five finish for a man whose temperament, driving style and results are so methodical that one of the most dominating first-half performances in more than a decade is being overlooked.
Kenseth leads fan-favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. by 176 points, the largest margin of the season and largest after 14 races since the late Dale Earnhardt led Dale Jarrett by 213 in 1990.
"I feel really good about where we are, but there's a lot of racing left to do," said Kenseth, driver of the No.17 Ford. "As we all know, everything can change in one race, so we've just got to keep working hard and do the best we can do."
Make that two weeks.
Truth is, Kenseth could finish last this weekend at Michigan and still lead by 25. Then NASCAR would have a points chase similar to last season, when a scant 147 points separated the top five with six races remaining. In fact, maybe Kenseth should sit out a race just to make things interesting. Shoot, to make things fair.
As it stands, the championship is at best a four-man race, with Jeff Gordon trailing by 233 and Bobby Labonte by 287. Everyone else needs Kenseth to have more than one bad race to get back in the hunt.
How likely is that?
"So far, we haven't had any parts break - knock on wood - been running at the end of the races and I've been lucky not to tear anything up yet."
Kenseth finished third at Pocono, his sixth top five and 12th top 10. His worst finishes are 20th at the rain-shortened Daytona 500 and 22nd at Martinsville, where he finished one lap down - the only race this season in which he failed to complete every lap.
Such consistency will make Kenseth had to catch.
Earnhardt Jr., who beat Kenseth for Busch series titles in 1998 and '99, finished fourth at Pocono - one place behind Kenseth.
"Matt finished right in front of us," Earnhardt said. "But we've been keeping him in sight and that's all we can do all year long to stay in the points battle."
What battle?
COMEBACK KID: Al Unser Jr. has 34 career open-wheel victories, including two Indianapolis 500s. But few wins mean more to the Indy Racing League veteran than Saturday's in the Bombardier 500K at Texas Motor Speedway.
"Any victory is very, very sweet," said Unser, 41. "This event is just as important as all the others behind me, maybe even a little bit more important for what we've been through in the last few years personally."
The win was the first for Unser since July, when he was arrested and charged with domestic abuse in Indianapolis after an incident with his girlfriend. He entered and completed an alcohol abuse program and, with the support of his Kelley Racing team, returned to the IRL before the end of 2002.
"I love racing," Unser said. "... I just wanted to do everything I could to try to come out of that and show that if you persevere, if you put hard work to it, if you're determined, you can get things done. And dreams can come true."
THEN AND NOW: Defending Winston Cup champ Tony Stewart climbed three places to 13th with his win at Pocono but trails Kenseth by 540 points. After 14 races last year, Stewart was sixth, 244 behind leader Sterling Marlin.
HAPPY TO BE HERE: Formula One driver Michael Schumacher extended his contract with Ferrari through 2006, the Associated Press reported, ending speculation the five-time world champion might leave or retire.
PIT STOPS: Ryan Newman was fifth, his third straight top five. ... Terry Labonte, seventh, posted back-to-back top 10s for the first time since April 2002. ... Bobby Labonte, 17th, snapped his streak of top-three finishes at five. ... Jarrett posted his fourth DNF in five races. ... Rookie Larry Foyt led his first Winston Cup lap.
