IN SIGHT That's not Bobby Hamilton Jr., is it? FOCUS: KEVIN HARVICK As Kevin Harvick so succinctly put it following his day at Atlanta, "It's over." What was over was Harvick's run at Matt Kenseth, who finished 11th at Atlanta and distanced himself from Harvick, who finished 20th and dropped from second to third in points. And it only got worse last weekend at Phoenix, as Harvick finished 34th and slipped three spots to sixth in points. Two weeks is all it took to go from championship hopeful to sitting outside the top five. And now, a spot in the top-five is the goal for the No. 29 team. Harvick currently sits 22 points behind fifth-place driver Ryan Newman and 51 points behind fourth-place Jeff Gordon. "It's very realistic. We may have dropped in the points, but that's already happened to us once this season and everyone saw what we did," Harvick said, referring to his 13-race charge to second in points after sitting 11th following the road race at Infineon Raceway. And though Harvick did win at The Brickyard in August -- his lone Cup win of 2003 -- three consecutive runner-up finishes later that month weren't quite good enough for the Bakersfield, Calif., native. "It's actually getting a little frustrating that we're not winning," Harvick said following his second-place showing in the Southern 500. "This sport is very tough. It's very hard to run in the top-10, let alone the top-five. "To be on the run that we've had in the last three months, we're pretty fortunate. It's a lot of fun to be in the race cars right now. I just get in and drive them, and do everything I can because I know this team is doing everything they can." But there wasn't much Harvick's team could do when the No. 29 car was caught up in a wreck started by Tony Stewart and Rusty Wallace on Sunday, taking away any hope of a good finish. "There was nothing we could do to change what happened last Sunday. You can't control what other people do on the racetrack. "All you can do is control what goes on with this team. It was awesome to see how quickly this crew got the car back in racing condition after the wreck. That just shows how strong we are." But the weekend wasn't a complete loss for Harvick. His stay at Phoenix included a win in Friday's Trucks race and a pole for Saturday's Busch race, in which he finished second. Three races in three days -- that's just how Harvick likes it. "Racing's my life. I'm more comfortable inside the car than I am anywhere else. For some reason, the busier I am at the track, the better I tend to race. I think it's because I don't have to deal with all the distractions outside the car that can get me in trouble at times." That trouble included a one-race suspension during his disappointing sophomore season in 2002. So disappointing, in fact, that Harvick describes the entire year as his worst Winston Cup memory. But despite a tough finish, the ever outspoken Harvick (just ask teammate Robby Gordon, Kurt Busch, Jack Roush and Kenseth -- the list goes on) has established himself as a legitimate championship contender. Newman might top many observers' preseason title favorite lists next year, but Harvick shouldn't be far behind. PIT PASS Pedregon Tony Pedregon already has clinched the NHRA POWERade Funny Car championship, but that doesn't mean the man is done. There's one race left -- and that race at Pomona just happens to be very near to his home in Chino Hills, Calif. If you think Pedregon has victory on his mind, you're right. "Winning the Finals would just be icing on the cake. We're coming in with a lot of confidence," said Pedregon, who's won 27 tour events in his eight seasons with Team Castrol and John Force Racing. "I'm racing at home. My mom's going to be there; all my family. My daughter Cecily. It would be great to close it out with one more win." Pedregon has eight wins this season; nobody in series history, save for his boss and teammate John Force, has won more in one season. Force's record is 13 wins, set in 1996. A victory on Sunday for the 38-year-old would make him the 17th pro driver in history to win both the season-opening and season-ending events. Pedregon won six of the season's first 11 events, swooned, then rallied to win two of the last four events. Matt Kenseth needs to win on Sunday. Sure, the Winston Cup championship is all but secured. And really, Kenseth doesn't need to do much more than show up at Rockingham, N.C., and Miami over the next couple of weeks to clinch the title. But it appears Kenseth will be your 2003 Winston Cup champion after winning a grand total of one race during the season. Yes, you heard us right. One win. And the fact that Kenseth has just one win while the likes of Ryan Newman (eight wins) and Kurt Busch (four) have found Victory Lane far more often surely takes credibility away from Kenseth's championship accomplishment, doesn't it? Sure. But it shouldn't. Three times since the current NASCAR points system was introduced in 1975 has the Cup champion won just two races. Jeff Gordon won 10 events in 1996, but Terry Labonte won the title. Davey Allison and Bill Elliott each collected five wins in 1992, but Alan Kulwicki won that year's championship in dramatic fashion. And Darrell Waltrip scored seven wins in 1984, but Labonte took the crown that year. But not since Benny Parsons' one-win championship campaign in 1973 (David Pearson won 11 races that season, accounting for one of five drivers to collect more victories than Parsons) before the current points system was in effect has a Cup champion won just one race during his championship campaign. Barring some late-season heroics, that's exactly what's going to happen this year. And Newman's success has critics from Sonoma to Loudon calling for changes to the points system. Apparently, two wins is enough to legitimize a championship season. After all, Kulwicki's astounding comeback in 1992 has become NASCAR lore, while nobody mentions the fact that Allison and Elliott had more than twice as many wins. And Jeff Gordon's 10 victories in '96? Overshadowed by Texas Terry's second title. But the perception in the here and now is that an asterisk should be placed next to Kenseth's name -- or at least next to the points system which got him here -- because he only won one race. Right or wrong, the current points system rewards consistency. And Kenseth has been nothing if not consistently good, leading all Cup drivers with 24 top-10 finishes. In fact, Kenseth has finished outside the top-25 just twice this entire season (back-to-back 30-something finishes at Talladega and Kansas). That's astounding. On the other hand, Newman -- who does lead the series in top-fives this year -- has finished outside the top-25 seven times. Kenseth has been the best driver under the current points system. But it's not as if he's been hanging on to an illegitimate points lead by the skin of his No. 17 Ford. Rather, he's had a pretty sizeable cushion for most of the season. And considering the number of top-10s he's collected, an argument could -- and should -- be made that Kenseth is indeed the best driver in Winston Cup this season and that he, not Newman or Busch or Gordon or Jimmie Johnson or Dale Earnhardt Jr., deserves the championship. So if one more win is what it takes for Kenseth to gain the respect he deserves, so be it. With the title just about in hand, Kenseth should consider going all out and pulling out all the stops in an effort to win Sunday's race at North Carolina. After all, Tony Stewart's three wins were plenty to legitimize his 2002 championship. Nobody seemed to mind that he didn't win the most races. The driver who did win a series-leading five events last year? That would, of course, be Kenseth. Kenseth finished eighth in points last year. Even with just one win, there shouldn't be any doubt which season was better. NASCAR isn't always about winning races. Rather, it's about winning championships. EXHAUST FUMES What has shaped up to be a tremendous finish to the World Rally Championship season now can add the word 'bizarre' to the mix. Or freakish. Odd. Downright perplexing -- take your pick, or get the thesaurus and top us. But nothing we can think of offhand tops the wild ride taken on Sunday by former world rally champ Richard Burns and his friend and foe, Markko Martin. And it wasn't even on a rally course. While driving his Porsche in London, with Martin his companion, the 32-year-old Burns blacked out at the wheel. Martin was left with the task of wrestling the car safely to the side of the road from the passenger seat. "I don't think I'm in a position to comment," Martin told the Guardian newspaper of his harrowing ride and quick reaction. "I don't think I enjoyed it. I think it was better than if he was on his own." Now, Burns is not medically cleared to race in this week's season finale (and his last with Peugeot before heading back to Subaru), the Rally of Britain -- his home rally on top of it all. With Burns out of the picture, the race for the title now is a three-way battle between France's Sebastien Loeb (Citroen), his Spanish teammate Carlos Sainz and Norway's Petter Solberg (Subaru). MAILBAG

Why do they take points from a driver like Ward Burton last week when the driver has no control over what goes on or into his engine? Unless he's a driver/owner, of course. That doesn't seem fair to me. Of course, NA$CAR does a lot of unfair things. Jack Gale Vancouver, Wash. Ahh, Vancouver, Wash. RPM.ESPN.com has some roots in Vancouver -- sort of. Anyway, while Ward Burton himself probably had no idea about the unapproved carburetor modification made to his No. 0 Pontiac, a driver can't benefit from a "mistake" made by his team and crew chief. The logic is that Burton's finishing position could have been aided by the fact that he was running an illegal car. Of course, the violation was discovered during opening-day inspection and presumably corrected for race day. In that case, it seems no-harm no-foul thinking should have been used and only a monetary fine imposed rather than points being docked. Got your own questions about what's happening in the pits? Ask away, and we'll answer a question or two in the next Gas&Go. Name: E-mail address: City, state: Your comment: OVERHEARD Valentino Rossi On leaving Honda after winning M-GP '03 finale. "I have decided to change because I've done everything with the bike. I've won in the wet, won in the dry, won on my favorite tracks and my least favorite tracks." Ashley Judd On husband Dario Franchitti, when asked during Monday night's Late Show with David Letterman what series Franchitti drives in. "Champ Cars. I'm sorry, he's actually in the IRL at the moment." Matt Kenseth After finishing sixth at Phoenix. "Unless we break stuff or crash, I think it's real attainable, so I feel good about that. Obviously, it's not over until it's over, but I feel great about where we're at with two races to go."

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