Kenseth feeling title pressure

Added to his engine failure at the previous race in Talledega, the incident has cost Kenseth 169 points of his championship lead to nearest rival Kevin Harvick - more than a third of the margin he enjoyed prior to the two events.

"I saw Michael wrecking," said Kenseth of his Kansas crash. "I went a little lower to miss him and instead of just staying on the gas and going by him I thought I'd slow up a little bit more in case he came down the track," said Kenseth. "The next thing I knew the thing just spun out on me. I wasn't even going fast, so I'm kind of puzzled with what happened.

"I've been saying all along that the thing is not over and you could have bad luck at any time and things could go wrong at any time. I realise how fast everything can change on you in this sport and we just have to keep our chin up and do the best we can. We're still in a pretty good position for the rest of the year."

Kenseth still has a margin of 267 points over Harvick with six races to go, although history suggests this is not insurmountable. Alan Kulwicki claimed the 1992 championship despite trailing by 278 points with six races remaining.

"You just go out and do everything you can every week," said Harvick. "We have to keep doing what we're doing week in and week out, and the biggest thing is that you race a little harder when you have something that big to shoot for."