seen this a few places, but what is #17-Matt Kenseth’s ‘magic’ number? meaning where does he need to average to win his first [and the last] Winston Cup? Kenseth has 3152 points, 286 over #8-Dale Earnhardt Jr’s 2866. If Earnhardt Jr. wins the remaining 15 races and leads the most laps, he would have 5641 points, the most he can get. So Kenseth would need 2490 to beat Dale Jr. [a tie would go to Jr. since he would have 16 wins to Kenseth’s 1]. 2490/15 works out to 166 points, so he would need to average 166 points to win the Cup, third place finish is worth 165. So if Kenseth can average a third place finish in the 15 races for 2475 points and lead a lap in three races, he can’t lose the Cup.(8-6-2003)
