BROOKLYN, Mich. - For nearly half of Sunday's Sirius Satellite Radio 400, Matt Kenseth said he had a 25th-place car.
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He wound up fourth.
While the other top-five competitors finished no worse than seventh, Kenseth again managed to build on his lead in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series standings.
He now has an 185-point cushion over Dale Earnhardt Jr. heading into Sunday's road course race at Sonoma, Calif.
"There were times in the race when we ran really good and I thought we ran good enough to run in the top five and there were times in the race when we ran good enough for 25th," Kenseth said. "It was an up and down day. We didn't have it right all day, but we got lucky at the end and got some tires and made up some ground."
Kenseth stopped for tires with 12 laps to go during a caution period. He gave up five positions to do it, but he made up six to actually gain a spot in the final rundown.
It was his 13th top-10 finish in 15 races and it marked the 14th time he's finished on the lead lap.
He now has 2,275 points, while Earnhardt Jr., who finished seventh, has 2,090 points.
Jeff Gordon, who was third in the race, was clearly frustrated he was not able to gain significant ground on Kenseth.
"I think as long as he keeps doing what he's doing, he's going to be tough to beat," Gordon said. "Not to wish bad luck, but he hasn't had any. It's really how you come through the tough times and those bad luck days that really determines where you become champion.
"Even if you win races, you're not really beating him because he finishes right behind you. You have to think the percentages will catch up with him, and then it's our job to capitalize on it if it happens."
UP IN SMOKE: Ryan Newman suffered burns on his face after his engine erupted in flames on the 37th lap.
Newman was running third along the backstretch when his engine caught fire. Flames not only bellowed from beneath his Dodge, but also shot through the dashboard and consumed most of the interior of his car.
The driver managed to find his way to the infield grass and escape as thick, black smoke consumed the same car he drove to victory two weeks earlier at Dover, Del.
"I had a wild ride, that's for sure," he said. "Typically, when an engine blows there is a fire. The magnitude of the fire surprised me. I pulled the fire extinguisher and had to actually aim the fire extinguisher to put the fire out."
Newman flipped on his roof in a wild crash during the season-opening Daytona 500, but he walked away unhurt. This time, he wasn't as lucky.
"It got my face pretty good," he said. "I was good until turn three, and then the fire flared up pretty good and I didn't anticipate the magnitude of the fire. I was kind of looking out for myself, and the flame got so bad I had to lock it down and try to bail. The burns are just on the side of my face. It's just the first layer of my skin. It's like a really bad sunburn."
BODINE BACK AT TRACK: Brett Bodine was back at the raceway a day after he crashed hard in the final practice session.
Bodine broke his right collarbone, had eight crowns jarred from his front teeth and had a big knot on his forehead.
"They wanted me to stay in the hospital," he said. "I wouldn't do that. Then they told me to at least stay in the motor home (during the race). I wouldn't do that either.
"I'm actually sore and banged up, but for what I went through with two very, very hard hits, I'm doing wonderful."
Bodine's oldest brother, Geoffrey, drove the car during the race. The car had problems with the rear end gear and finished the race in the garage area in 39th place.
The weekend got worse for the family when Todd Bodine lost a top-10 finish when he bounced off the wall with nine laps to go.
TITLE SPONSOR: NASCAR apparently is getting close to finding a new title sponsor for what's now called the Winston Cup Series.
Nextel is poised to take over for the cigarette company with a deal that would be worth as much as $80 million a year in sponsorship and advertising.
One of the hang-ups is Nextel's demands to have exclusive rights for the telecommunications business, much like Winston's current agreement that's kept Marlboro from sponsoring a car since 1972. Two other telecommunications businesses - Cingular Wireless and Alltel - currently sponsor cars. According to sources inside the garage area, they would be grandfathered into the agreement.
PIT STOPS: Sunday's race was the 25th consecutive sellout for a Winston Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway. The streak of sellouts started in June, 1991 ... A week ago Ken Schrader crashed on the eighth lap. On Sunday he lasted only two laps before crashing ... Four days after Gordon and Juan Pablo Montoya swapped cars at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, they enjoyed identical success on the race track. Gordon finished third in a stock car at Michigan; Montoya was third in his Formula One car at Montreal.
