Kenseth

FORT WORTH, Texas --Tony Stewart says he's racing in a different league from NASCAR's playoff contenders. Checker Auto Parts 500 Sunday, 3 p.m., Phoenix International Raceway, chs. 11, 4

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Just when it seemed NASCAR's playoffs couldn't get any more puzzling, go figure this latest twist: The hottest driver during this Chase for the Nextel Cup isn't even in it. Tony Stewart, who missed the cut in September, got his second win of the playoff season in yesterday's Bass Pro Shops 500. Through seven Chase races, the 2005 Nextel Cup champion has scored more points, 995, than any current contender. "But we're not in the Chase," Stewart retorted rhetorically to a flurry of questions he dismissed as "what-ifs and coulda-shouldas."

DOVER, DEL. -- With 53 laps to go yesterday in NASCAR's Neighborhood Excellence 400, Matt Kenseth's crew chief, Robbie Reiser, told his driver it was time for a pit stop. You need fresh tires, Reiser said over the radio as the yellow caution flag went up. Get in here. Now. Kenseth, in fifth place, looked at the drivers in front of him: Jamie McMurray, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Jeff Burton. None was going in for tires. Kenseth figured if he pitted, he could probably make up some ground, but not all of it. But if he stayed on the track, remained calm, trusted his car and his instincts, he thought he could win. It wasn't a tough call for Kenseth.

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Tony Stewart emerged yesterday as NASCAR's latest winner by short-track aggression. He battered Jimmie Johnson's bumpers and fenders for several laps before taking the lead with 27 laps left in the DirecTV 500. Then he narrowly avoided becoming a victim when Jeff Gordon's predatory charge went awry on the final restart at half-mile Martinsville Speedway. "I knew I was roughing him up a little bit," Stewart said of Johnson, "but that's short-track racing. If Dale Earnhardt had been here, I guarantee you he would have worn both of us out. "Just as soon as I went by Jimmie, I knew if he could get back to me he was going to do the same thing," Stewart said.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- NASCAR's 2005 Nextel Cup champion Tony Stewart made it clear he wanted NASCAR to crack down on aggressive drivers in this Daytona 500 and NASCAR listened. The first driver to be penalized was Stewart, who drove his No. 20 Chevrolet across three lanes of traffic to push driver Matt Kenseth into the grass entering Turn 3 at Daytona International Speedway yesterday on Lap 108. "He took me out intentionally because he was mad," said Kenseth, who earlier in the race had leaned into Stewart when he said his car momentarily lost its grip.

BROOKLYN, Mich. - Seconds before the most rollicking victory celebration of the NASCAR season broke out yesterday, Jeremy Mayfield's crew chief, Richard "Slugger" Labbe, put their win most succinctly. "We had a 20th-place car today, and we robbed the bank," Labbe said, then sprinted to where Mayfield had stalled his Dodge in the infield grass after blowing out both rear tires doing burnouts. Labbe's rambunctious tackle knocked Mayfield to the ground moments after he emerged from the car, "and I had to do the TV interview with the breath knocked out of me," Mayfield said later.

BROOKLYN, Mich. - NASCAR officials will be keeping close eyes on two feuding drivers, Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth, in today's DHL 400. And all 43 drivers in the race will be keeping close eyes on NASCAR officials. Harvick and Kenseth drew probation and $25,000 fines last week after taking turns wrecking each other in the Pocono 500. NASCAR officials are on de facto probation with all the drivers after two straight Sundays of bad judgment calls from the control tower. Four-time champion Jeff Gordon, who'll start on the pole today, has led the lobbying for NASCAR to get its act together.

LAS VEGAS - If it weren't for those pesky yellow caution flags, Matt Kenseth might have lapped the 42 other cars in NASCAR's Nextel Cup race here yesterday. As it was, the defending Cup champion from Cambridge, Wis., brought team owner Jack Roush his fifth victory in seven races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway before a sellout crowd of about 140,000. When his Ford Taurus took the checkered flag, Kenseth's margin over rookie pole-sitter Kasey Kahne was 3.426 seconds - nearly a quarter mile - and he led 123 of the 267 laps in the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400, but even that doesn't tell his dominance.

ROCKINGHAM, N.C. - As the two cars closed hard toward the finish line, even the boys following the leaders felt the adrenaline rush. "I about drove it into Turn 3 watching Kasey [Kahne] trying to win his first race," Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. Kahne's dramatic charge on Matt Kenseth came up inches short, as the nose of Kenseth's Ford scratched the finish line first to win the Subway 400 at North Carolina Speedway yesterday. "It was a close one," Kenseth said. The margin was one-hundredth of a second.