Moving up

It's already been a good week for Matt Kenseth. Without even turning a lap, he has moved up a spot in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series standings.
That's because of the penalties NASCAR hit Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon with on Tuesday. Both drivers lost 100 points in the standings for a rule violation at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma. It didn't affect Gordon's spot atop the standings, but it knocked Johnson down two spots, from third to fifth.
As a result Kenset moved from fourth to third.
He is coming off a pair of poor finishes in the past two races. He was 42nd at Michigan International Speedway and 34th at Infineon Raceway.
“Well, the last couple of weeks have been pretty rough for us," said Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 Ford for Roush Fenway Racing. "At Michigan, I thought we had at least a top-five car, but we got caught up in a wreck. Then last week… well, last week is behind us. It was frustrating to say the least, to spin out twice then run out of gas right before the last lap; Sonoma is always tough for us and it seemed like if it could go wrong, it did last Sunday."
The next race on the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series is at New Hampshire International Speedway. He has nine top-10 finishes at New Hampshire in 14 starts but he has never won a race there.
“But, this week is a new week and we’re going to a track that’s been pretty good to us over the years," Kenseth said. "We really haven’t had too many cars capable of winning at Loudon, but we’ve usually been good enough to run in the top 10 to top 15. This weekend, it’s going to be important for us to get some of the momentum back that we’ve lost in the past couple of weeks.”