With each passing race, Matt Kenseth's Winston Cup championship prospects seem even more certain. Still, winless for quite a while, he's had to share the headlines with Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch.

Though Kevin Harvick hasn't won in the past three races, he has finished second. And he has made up some serious ground in the title chase, claiming third place.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., though still a considerable distance behind Kenseth in second, is getting a little of the attention, too. After all, this is still his strongest points season to date.

Even Jeff Gordon has gotten a lot of press -- though for him the news has been about a descent in the standings and a struggle to get through the month of August.

Hidden amongst all these storylines sits Jimmie Johnson, a guy who finished top-five in points last season and has sat top-five in points for much of this season. His consistency hasn't rivaled Kenseth's. His win total doesn't come close to those of Newman and Busch. His hot-streak right now consists of back-to-back top-fives; not much compared to Harvick.

And, still, he's there. Fourth in the points standings and less than 100 points out of second.

"We're definitely still around," Johnson said. "It's hard because Matt's kind of running away with it right now. But you never know what's going to happen. And it's still a tight race from second back."

	Johnson has two wins this season.

A tight race which features many of the news makers: Junior, Harvick, Gordon and Busch. But it also features Johnson, who posted his seventh top-five finish on Sunday at Darlington -- a track where he loves to race -- and is riding high knowing that he's coming up on some other tracks that are on his list of favorites, too.

This weekend, the circuit heads to Richmond, where Johnson hasn't excelled. But he's run well in each of the last three races there, even if his finish hasn't always shown it.

After that, the series heads to New Hampshire and Dover. Johnson won the last race at New Hampshire and swept both races at Dover last season.

"The points standings will come down to consistency," Johnson said. "I like our chances as much as any team. (We) learned a lot last season when we were in the championship hunt and I think we are more mentally and physically prepared for the final push of the season. We have tracks coming up that we have excelled on."

Johnson remembers how fast Busch shot up the points standings last season, moving from 12th to third in a late-season push. And though he's confident that he could make a similar push to, say, second, the push to first is not entirely in his hands. In fact, if any driver hopes to catch Kenseth, they're going to need some help from the 17 team.

Johnson isn't deterred, though. His goal for the season was to improve on last year's fifth-place finish and he's in position to do that. Along the way, he's shooting for the type of consistent preparation and execution his No. 48 Chevy team has shown the past two weekends, and hoping Kenseth will sputter some time soon to allow the rest of the would-be title contenders to catch up.

"I'd like to tell you that Team Lowe's will win the remaining races and have the largest comeback in Winston Cup history to capture the Cup, but I think that it would be highly unlikely because the No. 17 would still have to run into trouble at every race for us to do that," Johnson said.

"The No. 17 has been extremely consistent and just when you think you have them up against the ropes, they battle back and finish in the top-10. That is a sign of a strong and smart team. Matt has been able to stay out of trouble all year and take advantage of situations all season long. He is a great race car driver with an extremely strong team around him."

Kenseth had a bit of trouble on Sunday, though, finishing 14th. In this season, that's enough to characterize a bad day for him. And Johnson is one of the few points chasers who was able to capitalize on that.

His weekend started with a solid qualifying effort that put him on the front row. For him, that's enough to give him a good shot at a high finish at Darlington.

The South Carolina track is usually one that takes drivers several races around to master. But Johnson took to it almost immediately, enjoying success there last season and in the first race there this year. With great starting position, he was able to stay out of too much trouble -- there was a run-in with Michael Waltrip and his fair share of rubs against the wall -- and put the race in his pit crew's hands with the final pit stop.

Afterward, Johnson was obviously happy with his day -- but he wasn't trying to fool anyone. It had less to do with the fact that he finished third in the final Labor Day running of the Southern 500. It had more to do with the fact that this is a hard track to get around, and he got around it with poise.

Eleven races remain in the 2003 season, and it's that poise that Johnson's going to have to rediscover with consistency if he hopes to remain, and climb, in the points race.

"I have to be honest, just moving back to the East Coast not too long ago and being fairly new to the sport, I probably don't understand the heritage of the Southern 500," Johnson said. "Before the year started, (crew chief) Chad (Knaus) asked me what races I wanted to win. I said, 'the Southern 500, the Coca-Cola 600 and a race at Martinsville,' In my eyes, those are the hardest tracks to get around."

Rupen Fofaria is a freelance writer living in Chicago and a regular contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached at rfofaria@espnspecial.com.