CONCORD, N.C. — Matt Kenseth is sneaky good.
He's the kind of guy who always gets overlooked in a lineup of guys who drive fast for a living, as if he were a nerd in a photo shoot of Chippendale models.
It's best to pay attention, because Mr. Kenseth is quietly making a lot of noise.
His 21st career win in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Charlotte Motor Speedway Saturday night was the epitome of consistency, which pretty much sums up Kenseth's career.
He stalked Kyle Busch in the closing laps of the Bank of America 500 and passed him with 25 laps to go on a restart, and breezed to the finish . It was a good/bad mix for Busch, who charged to the front despite starting last in the 43-car field after an engine change forced Busch to start last in the 43-car field.
"That (No.) 17 (Kenseth), man, he found something that none of us could find tonight, and made something out of nothing," Busch said. "He just outdrove me."
"It was an awesome win for us," Kenseth said.
That's about how introspective as it gets for Kenseth, a Wisconsin guy who is economical with his words and highly efficient behind a race car. Kenseth has finished sixth, fifth, fourth and first in his last four Chase races to move into third place in the Chase standings.
Kenseth is right in the middle of the battle for the NASCAR Sprint Cup title, which has a feel of a WWE Battle Royal: A bunch of guys mixing it up, but only one man left standing after all the blood and the bruises.
The question remains, who is going to be the last man standing?
Carl Edwards remains the points leader, just five points ahead of Kevin Harvick, and Kenseth only seven points behind.
"He's the only one of the three of us with a championship," Edwards said.? "He's doing really well and tonight that car was really fast and he drove it really well.? I spent a little time behind him and he was wheeling it, so I don't think you can count him out at all."
One guy not likely to emerge from the scrum is five-time defending Jimmie Johnson, who got tangled up with Ryan Newman in the closing laps. Johnson spun and hit the wall, fortunate that a safety barrier and a HANS device cushioned the blow.
It was awful painful in other ways, though. Johnson's 34th-place finish literally wrecked his chances for winning his sixth consecutive title. Johnson isn't mathematically out, but it's going to be a one huge challenge given the competitors who are ahead of him.
"I'm ok," Johnson said in a TV interview. "That one stung for sure."
"…We just got to go racing. That's all there is to it…Definitely not the night we wanted. This is not going to help us win a sixth championship."
The race did spit out another strong contender _ Kenseth _ who began the night fifth in the Chase standings, gave Ford its first victory here since 2002 in a race that was relatively clean expect in the final stretches.
Kenseth doesn't have the 'wow' factor. The NASCAR Nation remembers that the Chase format was put in play after Kenseth's relatively mundane championship in 2003. Insiders called it? "the Matt Kenseth Rule" after he won the last Winston Cup that season despite winning only one race _ the third race of the year in Las Vegas Motor Speedway _ but ending the season with 25 top-ten finishes.
That's fine. Just his style.
"What's important to me is trying to win races, trying to be competitive," Kenseth said. "I don't really care about Wii dance-offs or how much coverage you get for doing certain things. If someone wants to say I'm boring, or whatever. I was hired to try to win races."
Kenseth snagged his third one of the year, and he may not be done yet with five races to go in the season.
Ssshhhh.
" It seems like those Wisconsin guys are awfully quiet most of the time," Busch said.
"It's all the cheese they eat," Edwards said.
Keep making jokes, boys.
When the Chase championship is settled in South Florida in November, they all may find that Cheeseheads rule.
?
gdiaz@tribune.com Read George Diaz's blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/enfuego
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