HAMPTON, Ga. -- The front end was speckled with oil and grease, the rear end held together with copious amounts of black tape. The right side was so scratched up that green and yellow and white paint all blended into one another. Life on the edge of the Sprint Cup playoffs is a desperate and battle-weary place, and Matt Kenseth's No. 17 car certainly looked it late Sunday night.

“

Take out the first two weeks, and it's probably the worst we've run since '01. It's starting to get on my nerves.

”

-- MATT KENSETH

For Kenseth, it's a somewhat unfamiliar and altogether unwelcome position. Throughout the bulk of his career at NASCAR's highest level, the even-keeled driver from Wisconsin has defined consistency. He won a championship on it in 2003, a single-victory campaign where he mowed down the competition with an onslaught of top-five finishes so methodical that NASCAR changed the playoff system the next year. He's one of just two drivers, along with Jimmie Johnson, to qualify for every Chase since the format was instituted five years ago. His pit crew has always been among the best, his demeanor has always been among the coolest, and his contention for the title is as routine as sunrise. If he were a baseball player, Kenseth is the guy you could count on to hit .310 every season.

"Trying to force Matt Kenseth into making a mistake or something like that, is very, very tough," Denny Hamlin said on Saturday. "He's been probably the rock-solid team -- always a top-10 team -- every year he's been in the series. You're not going to force Kenseth into making mistakes."

All of which makes Kenseth's position at the moment so unusual. Next weekend brings the final event before NASCAR's championship field is determined, and his place in it seems about as tenuous as a tire rubbing against a fender at 180 mph. He's on an uncharacteristic roller coaster, as evidenced by a wild night at Atlanta Motor Speedway that saw him bang the wall and battle handling woes, fall a lap down and race back to the front, and hang onto a 12th-place finish by his fingernails. He heads to Richmond right on the Chase cut line, 20 points ahead of 13th-place Brian Vickers. Kenseth usually makes it look easy. Sunday, there was no questioning how delicate his situation really is. (Continued)