Matt Kenseth Claims NASCAR Winston Cup Championship

Matt Kenseth clinched his first NASCAR Winston Cup championship Sunday and the first for car owner Jack Roush, who has been competing full-time in the series since 1988. Thus, Kenseth becomes only the sixth different Ford driver to claim the title and the first since Dale Jarrett in 1999.

The driver of the No. 17 DeWalt Power Tools Taurus has posted one win, 11 top-five and a series-best 25 top-10 finishes in 2003. Kenseth's victory at Las Vegas in March served as the impetus for what became a consistent run to the championship and ignited a streak that saw him post 12 top-10 finishes in the next 13 races. He grabbed the points lead after a fourth-place finish at Atlanta in the fifth race of the season and has been alone at the top ever since.

The closest anyone has gotten since then came after the Richmond race in May when Dale Earnhardt, Jr. closed to within 20 points, but it eventually peaked at 436 points following the September race at Dover.

Upon cinching the championship with still one race left in the season, Kenseth said, "It's unbelievable. This is beyond my wildest dreams. I never thought I'd ever have the opportunity to sit in one of these cars, much less be the champion. I'm just so appreciative to my team, my owners, my sponsors, everybody that puts this thing together. I'm just real lucky. There are thousands of race car drivers out there that I'm sure could do a better job than I have and not many people get this opportunity. I'm just thankful to be in good equipment with good people working on it."