Anyone remember Matt Kenseth?

Kyle Busch fans believe their guy, with three wins this season, deserves a berth in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.

The mantra is the same for Mark Martin, who has a series-best four victories, but is no lock to earn one of the 12 spots in the Chase.

Yet, there doesn't seem to be the same outcry for Matt Kenseth, the hottest driver in NASCAR at the start of the season. With back-to-back wins at Daytona and California, Kenseth went to Las Vegas with the opportunity to become the first driver in NASCAR history to sweep the first three races of the season.

Instead, his engine began to sputter before the race even began. His season wasn't far behind.

Kenseth goes into Sunday's Carfax 400 Michigan International Speedway clinging to the 12th spot in the Chase field and in serious danger of missing the playoff for the first time since NASCAR created the title-deciding format. He and three-time champion Jimmie Johnson are the only two drivers to qualify for all five runnings of the Chase.

Many believe Kenseth is also the reason for the Chase.

He claimed his 2003 championship through consistency, winning just once, in the third race of the season at Las Vegas. But 25 top-10 finishes made him untouchable, and Kenseth actually wrapped up his anticlimactic championship with one race to go in the season.

The Chase was launched two months later, and even with his wry humor, Kenseth has never offered the slightest smile to those who jokingly "credit" him for the points system overhaul.

So it's really no surprise that the outrage over Busch or Martin missing the Chase doesn't seem to also exist for Kenseth. He typically flies so low under the radar, little of what Kenseth does gets noticed.

It's not always a good thing – he was annoyed with those, myself included, who dismissed his win in the rain-shortened Daytona 500 – as his status as one of the steadiest drivers in NASCAR history is often overlooked.

But that low-key status can help during a swoon such as this. I looked at his season-long stats this week for the first time in months and was startled to see Kenseth has notched just two top-five finishes since his California victory.

Did anyone even notice?

It's a fact that Roush Fenway Racing, which put all five of its drivers in the 2005 Chase, is off a tick this season.

Carl Edwards, winner of a series-high nine races last year and the preseason favorite to dethrone Johnson, is so far winless. Greg Biffle, also winless, has been hit-or-miss since May. Jamie McMurray and David Ragan have been non-factors all year.

But Kenseth? Mr. Consistency himself?

Granted, he's not been awful this year. But he certainly hasn't been great.

At Watkins Glen on Monday, when Biffle used a timely career-best finish of fifth to give himself much-needed Chase bubble breathing room, Kenseth settled for 14th … and was pleased.

"For how we've been doing lately, that's really good," he said after. "We were 14th, which is about what we are, to be honest with you. So, that was a good finish for us."

Only that's not going to get it done. Not with Busch banging on the bubble, trying hard to get back into Chase eligibility.

Unlike Kenseth, who has just sort of been there since California, Busch has actually flexed some muscle. Sure, he's been struggling of late, but wrecks, mechanical failures and rain cost him potential wins at Daytona twice, Talladega and Charlotte.

And Martin had such a horrendous stretch of bad luck to start his year, not even his four victories could rally him high enough in the standings to give him a solid Chase berth.

Everything that has happened to Busch and Martin has been well documented, though, and their struggles have been followed all year. Not so much on Kenseth, who very rarely offers much insight into what's ailing the once red-hot race team.

They just haven't been running well, he says, and they'll simply try to get stronger before it's too late.

As for his strategy the next four weeks?

"Just get the best finish we can every week," he said. "That's what we always try to do. Even though we're close to the cutoff, I don't really think there's anything we can do different."

Fortunately for Kenseth, the series rolls into Michigan, where all Roush cars typically contend. Kenseth, a two-time winner there, has an average finish of 9.1 in 20 previous starts. He's finished inside the top-five in three of his last four starts, and four of the last six.

And he was running inside the top 10 at Michigan in June until a loose wheel forced a late pit stop and a 20th-place finish. Clinging to a 58-point cushion over Busch, Kenseth has to be flawless on Sunday.

In fact, he needs the same type of performance Biffle used last week to leapfrog Kenseth in the standings and move up two spots to 10th.

If Kenseth is going to press the issue, he isn't saying.

But 1989 champion Rusty Wallace speculated this week that Kenseth has to play it safe over this final month.

"Kyle Busch is going to be driving with a lot of aggression … trying to get in. The guy I'm a little concerned about right now is actually Matt Kenseth, because Matt has got to be looking in his rear view mirror the whole time," Wallace said. "He can't really just drive flat out. He's got to be protecting that 12th spot he's in right now."

Kenseth is no stranger to pressure: He climbed out of a record 165-point hole to move from 16th to ninth with four races to go before the 2005 Chase field was set. But it wasn't until his win at Bristol that his hard charge became widely recognized.

But if he can't recreate that magic this year, will anyone notice?