Return to form? Right at top of Kenseth's to-do list

If you are Mr. Consistency, and then suddenly you're not consistent anymore, what does that make you?

For Matt Kenseth, it makes you 20th in the current Sprint Cup points race. And that's an oddity. Kenseth has finished in the top 10 of NASCAR's top series the last six years in a row (which is tied with Jimmie Johnson for the longest active streak). Seeing Kenseth in the lead pack at a race used to be nearly as certain as seeing a No. 3 flag flying in the infield.

But not right now. Kenseth's results have veered all over the place in 2008. In his last five races he has finished ninth, 38th, 41st, 38th and sixth.

"As a group, we just haven't been in championship form yet," Kenseth said of the team behind his No. 17 DeWalt Ford, which includes new crew chief Stuart Bolin. "It's not too late. But if we don't get back into that form soon, it will be. We realize that."

Kenseth, 36, won his first Cup race eight years ago at Lowe's Motor Speedway. At Lowe's and all over the rest of the circuit, Kenseth has long been one of those drivers people don't really love or hate but can't help but respect.

I've always liked him because of his substance-over-style mentality. He doesn't try to fool anybody. As TV announcer Larry McReynolds once told me about Kenseth: "You always know where you stand with Matt. He's not going to massage your ears."

Kenseth won an overall championship in 2003, winning only once that season but always camping out in the top 10. Since the inception of the playoff-esque Chase in 2004, Kenseth and Johnson are the only two drivers to make the Chase all four seasons.

A native of Wisconsin, where racing news ranks far behind a story on the Green Bay Packers' No. 5 cornerback, Kenseth has never sought the spotlight. He prefers the shadows. He's about as careful and steady of a driver as you can be - think Mark Martin - for going 180 mph all the time.

Kenseth's father nicknamed him "Motor" when Matt was young because he was always working on one. Now Matt Kenseth has a son of his own thinking about a racing career. Ross Kenseth, who lives with his mother in Wisconsin, has just begun racing. Kenseth lives in Charlotte but flies up to Wisconsin to see Ross race as often as he can.

In the non-points all-star race a week ago at Lowe's, Matt Kenseth finished third. And he was sixth in Darlington. So maybe he's about to get on a roll and make some people around here think about the number 17 again without immediately referencing Jake Delhomme.

"I feel like I'm the same person and the same driver as I was in 2003," Kenseth said. "I think there are just good runs and bad runs, and sometimes they all get clumped together. Hopefully, we're about to get back to where we need to be."