There may be drivers with more wins and more championships, but it’s difficult to find anyone in today’s stock car world that is as consistent and steady as Matt Kenseth.

Afterall, Kenseth is one of only two drivers to qualify for the Chase for the Nextel Cup every year since the format was adopted in 2004. In addition, he’s one of only two drivers to finish in the top 10 each of the last six seasons. During that stretch, he’s won 15 points races and the Nextel All-Star Challenge.

Part of the reason for Kenseth’s success has been his association with crew chief Robbie Reiser. This season, however, will be much different after Reiser was promoted to general manager for all of Roush Fenway Racing. As a result, Kenseth will have Chip Bolin as his new crew chief in ‘08, the first time he has had anyone besides Reiser since entering the NASCAR Busch Series ranks in 1997.

The good news is that Kenseth and Bolin have been together ever since the formation of the 17 team by Roush in ‘00. They worked together as a driver-crew chief combination last year while Reiser was serving a six-race suspension at the start of the year for rules violations at Daytona and won in their first race together at California Speedway in February.

In fact, that proved to be Kenseth’s lone Nextel Cup victory all season until he went out in storybook fashion with Reiser by claiming the Ford 400 Homestead finale in November. That gave the Kenseth-Reiser duo 16 Nextel Cup victories and one series championship (‘03) in their eight years together.

While Kenseth continues to make his mark in what this year will be known as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, he will continue to test his skills on a limited basis in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Kenseth is one of seven different Ford drivers to win the championship at NASCAR’s highest level, along with Ned Jarrett (1965), David Pearson (1968-69), Bill Elliott (1988), Alan Kulwicki (1992), Dale Jarrett (1999) and Kurt Busch (2004).

The championship Kenseth won was a series first for car owner Jack Roush and continued a stretch that saw him win the Craftsman Truck Series championship in ‘00 and the Busch Series title in ‘02 with Greg Biffle.

Known for always having one of the top pit crews in the business, Kenseth led the Nextel Cup Series in wins with five in ‘02. That offset a winless ‘01 campaign and helped return him to the form that resulted in Raybestos Rookie of the Year honors in ‘00.

Kenseth, whose first Nextel Cup victory came in the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in ‘00, got his first taste of NASCAR’s top division at Dover in the fall of ‘98 when he was tabbed to fill-in for Bill Elliott, who was attending the funeral of his father. Kenseth looked as though he was a grizzled veteran as he ran in the top 10 all day before eventually finishing sixth in the McDonald’s Ford Taurus.

Kenseth got his second chance in ‘99 at the TranSouth 400 when Bobby Labonte suffered a fractured scapula in a practice accident at Darlington. After Labonte started the race, Kenseth replaced him during the team’s first pit stop and went from 43rd to 10th when rain finally brought the race to a premature halt.

Those two performances opened a lot of eyes and by the time Kenseth ran five races with his own team later in the year, he had already made a positive impression. Kenseth made his debut in the DeWalt Power Tools Ford at Michigan in August and finished 14th, but his best Cup effort to that point came a month later at Dover when he placed fourth.

Kenseth’s career got jump-started when Mark Martin took him under his wing in ‘97.That was his first full season in the Busch Series after competing in only one such event in ’96 and Kenseth managed a pair of top-five finishes and seven top-10 efforts in 21 starts.

Kenseth blossomed in ’98 with three victories, 17 top-fives and 23 top-10s in 31 races and challenged Earnhardt Jr. for the points championship before ultimately finishing second. He was equally strong in ’99 with four triumphs, 14 top-fives and 20 top-10s in 32 events as he placed third in the final standings.

Even though he never won a Busch Series championship, he’ll gladly live with being the final Winston Cup champion. Prior to that, the only other championships Kenseth claimed came at Madison International Speedway in ‘94 and at Wisconsin International Raceway in ’94 and ’95.