A team that admittedly had been very lucky through 28 races has seen its fortunes reverse. Though Matt Kenseth's hold on the Winston Cup points lead remains relatively firm, the kind of problems his No.17 Ford has undergone the past two weeks are as new as they are worrisome.
"A lot of times you create your own luck," Kenseth said. "Last week, breaking an engine wasn't bad luck, it was poor decisions. This week, it wasn't really bad luck, it was poor driving by me and poor decisions with the car, so I can't really blame it on luck. We're doing it to ourselves."
After slamming into the wall and smashing the front of his car while attempting to avoid an out-of-control Michael Waltrip, Kenseth missed about 45 laps and returned to finish a season-worst 36th Sunday at Kansas Speedway.
Kevin Harvick's sixth place sliced 95 points off Kenseth's lead and pulled him within 259 of the top.
Kenseth had finished no worse than 22nd before Talladega's fall race, where he failed to finish for the first time this season.
Even if Harvick wins each of the last six races and gains the maximum bonus points by leading the most laps, Kenseth can win the points title by averaging 142 points, which is the rough equivalent of finishing eighth.
HELP: Dodge has eight Winston Cup wins this season to trail only Chevrolet (14). Ryan Newman has all eight. Other Dodge drivers were competitive on Sunday, though, as Bill Elliott's second-place finish and Jeremy Mayfield's third gave Dodge a top-three sweep.
The performances of Elliott and Mayfield also continued a period of marked improvement for team owner Ray Evernham. Mayfield and Elliott each have three top-fives in the past six races.
BOOM: Kurt Busch avoided the mechanical problems that stung Roush Racing teammates Kenseth, Mark Martin and Jeff Burton at Talladega but saw his day end at Kansas in a flash. His engine blew on Lap 181, spitting flames into the car. Busch escaped unhurt but finished 40th.
"I've blown a lot of motors but I've never really had a fire inside the car," Busch said.
FEAR LOEB: Sebastien Loeb's wire-to-wire victory at San Remo, Italy, positions the French rookie to challenge points leader Richard Burns with two events left in the World Rally Championship.
Loeb's time of 4 hours, 16 minutes, 33.7 seconds in a Citroen Xsara moved him within two points of Burns, who finished seven minutes behind in a Peugeot 206. The Englishman preserved his points lead by earning two bonus points for improving from 10th to seventh in the final stage.
SCENARIOS: Three drivers can claim the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series title this weekend by winning the season-ender at Texas, while Sam Hornish Jr. can defend his title for a third time with a seventh-place finish - and a lot of help. Reigning Indianapolis 500 champ Gil de Ferran must win and get even more help.
Two-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves and Scott Dixon co-lead the standings with 467 points, with Tony Kanaan third 460. They can win the closest points battle in series history with a victory. Hornish Jr. is fourth with 448 and de Ferran is fifth with 437. Both need the top three to falter badly to have a chance at the title. A complete list of scenarios is available at www.indycarseries.com
CART CLOSE: The Champ Car points race remains close, with leader Paul Tracy holding off Bruno Junqueira by 13 points and Michel Jourdain Jr. by 33 with three races remaining.
Tracy benefited from his rivals' misfortune to hold onto his points lead in Miami a week ago despite finishing 16th after initiating a crash with Sebastien Bourdais. Junqueira and Jourdain were later involved in accidents, finishing ninth and seventh, respectively.
