Low-key Kenseth is consistent

Matt Kenseth isn’t brash like Tony Stewart, isn’t as glamorous as Jeff Gordon and, at Indianapolis Motor Speedway at least, is one trophy short of both rivals.

But the low-key Kenseth still starts today’s Allstate 400 at the Brickyard as a favorite to earn his first victory at the famed 2.5-mile oval, which also would be the first Brickyard win for his Roush Fenway Racing team.

The Wisconsin native and 2003 Cup champion has been one of the most consistent drivers in the Brickyard race despite failing to get his No. 17 Ford into Victory Lane.

He has four top-five finishes in his last five races here, including a second last year behind winner Jimmie Johnson of Hendrick Motorsports. Johnson’s teammate Gordon has won the Brickyard 400 four times, and Stewart won in 2005 for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Oddly, though, Kenseth has never qualified well for the race, and Saturday was no exception. He qualified 31st in the 43-car field, and 21-year-old Reed Sorenson won his first career pole position in a Dodge with a lap of 184.207 mph.

“It’s an awesome place to get our first pole,” Sorenson said.

Sorenson’s teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, the former open-wheel racer trying to become the first driver to win both the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400, qualified second at 183.494 mph, giving the team of Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates a sweep of the front row.

Kenseth, 35, came to Indy this year with momentum. He won the series’ second race at California Speedway in February and has seven top-five finishes overall through the season’s first 19 races. He also was second in the most recent race at Chicagoland Speedway and is third in the points standings. That means he’s likely to make the Chase for the Cup -- NASCAR’s Nextel Cup 12-driver playoff during the final 10 races to determine the title winner -- for the fourth year in a row.

The Chase, in fact, was devised in 2004 after Kenseth dominated the 2003 season -- he held the points lead for 33 consecutive weeks, a modern record -- and easily won the championship.

“I’m really happy with the team and where they’re at and how they’ve been performing,” Kenseth said.

But when asked whether he was a favorite today, Kenseth was typically restrained: “In my own mind, I’m not. But I think the 24 [Gordon] and 48 [Johnson], obviously, have been really strong all year and the 20 [Stewart], you can never count him out, so those are the three that come to mind.”

Other drivers said Kenseth should not be underestimated.

Kenseth is “one of the best race-car drivers on the circuit,” said veteran Mark Martin, an early mentor of Kenseth’s when Martin was a teammate at Roush Fenway.

Denny Hamlin said Kenseth not only is “a guy who races you hard,” he also has “a pretty good sense of humor” even though “he’s quiet enough you really don’t think he has one.”

Indeed, Kenseth has a dry wit and enjoys politely teasing rival drivers, teammates and the media. A good friend of Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kenseth is by far less popular than Earnhardt and some other drivers but no less respected among his peers.

Kenseth “is at the top of the class in understanding his race cars,” said Martin, now with Dale Earnhardt Inc.

Like so many drivers, Kenseth inherited his love of racing from his father, who recruited the younger Kenseth to help him prepare his cars for races on small Wisconsin tracks.

The experienced taught Kenseth -- who began racing at 16 -- how to diagnose race cars and understand what makes them go fast. It’s a knowledge that has helped him share valuable data in his Cup career with longtime crew chief Robbie Reiser.

But like everyone else, Kenseth probably will need a bit of luck to win his first Brickyard 400. If he does, he’s well aware that six of the previous nine winners here went on to win the championship.

“I don’t think in the garage we really look at it like that,” he said. “Momentum is important. No matter where you are in points, you want to keep that momentum up.”

*

One of Kenseth’s teammates, Carl Edwards, will start the Brickyard 400 in 35th with a dislocated right thumb.

Edwards suffered the injury last Sunday in a dirt-track race near Omaha. Added Edwards: “The worst part about what happened was just looking down and seeing my thumb in a different position than I’d ever seen it before.”

--

james.peltz@latimes.com