Friday, October 31, 2003
Dale Earnhardt Jr. is second, 258 points behind.
HAMPTON, Ga. (AP) -- Matt Kenseth gave his backup engine to teammate Mark Martin, who completed only 159 laps before it failed. Then Kevin Harvick, the closest challenger to Kenseth in the chase for the Winston Cup championship, got caught in a wreck with a lapped car and dropped off the pace.
Kenseth avoided all of those problems -- again -- and moved to the cusp of his first title.
He finished 11th in the rain-interrupted Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway Monday, an event won by Jeff Gordon. The result left Kenseth with a 258-point lead over Dale Earnhardt Jr., who leapfrogged Harvick by finishing sixth.
If Earnhardt gets the maximum points in the final three races -- wins and leads the most laps in all of them -- Kenseth can finish 21st in each and still win the championship.
"The big picture looks good, but I wish we could've run better," Kenseth said. "My performance kept getting worse and worse as the day went on."
Gordon making charge
Gordon was the exact opposite. He didn't lead for the first time until lap 204, but he stayed out front for 55 of the last 122 laps, including the final 36.
With Tony Stewart closing fast, a late caution for a crash by pole-sitter Ryan Newman forced the race to end under yellow, helping Gordon secure his second straight victory. He also won at Martinsville last week.
Stewart kept second, with Jimmie Johnson, Bill Elliott and Bobby Labonte rounding out the top five.
"I felt like at the end of the race, it was ours to lose," Gordon said. "[Stewart] made a heck of an effort and certainly kept it exciting. I didn't know whether we were going to win it or not."
Kenseth's run probably removed any doubt from the point battle. Even though he never led, he easily stayed in touch with the leaders all day with an ill-handling car, and he was there to take advantage of Harvick's misfortune.
On lap 201, Dave Blaney spun in Turn 3, and Harvick drove high in an attempt to miss him. But that's where Blaney ended up, too, and the cars made slight contact. That pushed Harvick's Chevrolet into the wall.
His crew tried to repair the damage with large sections of duct tape, but the handling wasn't the same. He dropped off the lead lap and finished 20th.
"It's over," was all Harvick said afterward.
Stewart develops problems
Stewart led 109 laps and had the fastest car throughout. But a problem with an air gun during a pit stop with about 100 laps left dropped him from fourth to 17th, and even he couldn't make up all the ground.
"That was pretty impressive, coming from 17th to second with no cautions," he said. "I'm very happy."
With Stewart out of the way -- at least temporarily -- the best racing came from teammates Gordon and Johnson, who battled mightily for third in the middle portion of the race.
Johnson ran down Gordon and appeared faster, but each time he pulled to the inside to pass, Gordon powered back by on the outside. This went on for several laps until Gordon finally took third by himself, and he quickly caught and passed Earnhardt for second.
Next up was Labonte, who put up quite a fight as well, but Gordon was too strong, finally passing Labonte for good on lap 277.