IN SIGHT Playstation. FOCUS: MATT KENSETH Kenseth The action hasn't been this good between Matt Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt Jr. since Kenseth's cat, Lars, bloodied the nose of Little E's cat, Buddy, in a trackside sparring match. No, neither driver fought Sunday in New Hampshire. And neither was the race winner -- that of course went to Jimmie Johnson. But in the grand scheme, Kenseth is looking more and more like a winner all the time. Just a week after disappointment in Chicagoland, Kenseth finished third and widened his Cup points lead to a whopping 234 points over Jeff Gordon. There's a lot of racing left, but that's a sizeable lead. And Junior, who finished a strong sixth himself and is third in the series standings, is not hiding his admiration for Kenseth's brilliant work in the yellow No. 17 car. "Matt is having a spectacular season and I applaud what his team is doing," Earnhardt Jr. said. "I feel like we're not chipping away, and we can't gain anything on Matt at all. But we've still got to enjoy our success because we're having the best season (we've had). We've got to be proud of that." Kenseth is having his best season, too. After a strong Cup rookie season in 2000, the Cambridge, Wis., native struggled in 2001 and failed to win a race. Then came last year's breakout performance, with a series-best five race victories en route to an eighth-place finish. How to top that? A Cup title clearly would be the pinnacle for Roush Racing's rising star, and with the top-notch pit crew and Kenseth's talents in harmony so far, it's not out of the question he finishes this season where he is now: on top. PIT PASS Elliott Poking around: The 2003 Cup season hasn't gone as well as Bill Elliott had hoped. After finishing 13th in points last season, Elliott sits 19th in the standings after the New Hampshire 300 at Loudon -- though Sunday's 31st-place finish was his worst since Texas in March and 19th is as high as Elliott's been all season. Still, Elliott enters Sunday's Pennsylvania 500 as the defending race winner, and he's feeling better than he did for NASCAR's first trip to the track this season back in June (Elliott finished 19th). "I was still on the mend with my foot when we came here in June, but now I'm pretty much back to normal and that will definitely work in our favor," said Elliott, who scored back-to-back wins last year by taking the second Pocono race and following up with a win at the Brickyard 400. "Obviously, we had a good little run going coming into this race last year and ended up getting the pole and winning but like I've said before, everything has to be perfect. "The competition is so close and so good now, you can't afford to make one mistake. It used to be seconds or a tenth of a second separated things. Now, it's hundredths and even thousandths of a second that separate us." Elliott feels good about his team's prospects this weekend. "I seem to know my way around this track and enjoy racing here," said the five-time Pocono winner. "It seems strange to say this but in a month or so since we've been back there, I feel like this team has started to get back to where we were before. We tested Indy and had a pretty good test. They're not 100 percent the same, but a lot of what you learn at one you can use at the other. I guess it worked for us last year." Mailbag: Who pays the fine when NASCAR fines the crew chief for rules infractions? The crew chief, the owner or both? John Turnbull Phillipsburg, N.J. Well, John from Jersey, while fines are generally doled out to crew chiefs, it's the owners who pull out the corporate Amex. But that doesn't mean that Jack Roush can't take matters into his own hands and cut off Mark Martin's supply of Viagra. Got your own questions about what's happening in the pits? Ask away, and we'll answer a question or two in the next Gas&Go. Name: E-mail address: City, state: Your comment: Where do we begin, ladies and gentlemen? Oh, right, a kilted man ran onto the Silverstone track during last weekend's British Grand Prix. He was protesting something, we think, but that's irrelevant. This 56-year-old Irishman was on the track, at the entrance to its fastest straight, while F1 cars blasted past. Did we mention he was wearing a kilt? And the rest of his ensemble could have passed for a green leprechaun outfit. But we're not making Irish jokes here, no sir. All of this could make sense when we stop to consider the Leprechaun has been filmed at an abandoned farm, in the Hood, Vegas and Space (not in that order mind you); perhaps this time he was looking for his gold in Silverstone. If gangstas and aliens didn't scare off our little green friend, then Formula One cars at full speed certainly would not. This was entertainment in its purest form. Nobody got stabbed in the back or beaten at first base, we were not subjected to a naked man's goods -- always either hideous or amusing depending on one's perspective -- and it allowed the cars to make quick, unplanned pit stops that threw the race into beautiful chaos. And that's what this is about, after all. The racing. Not the kilted man. The racing. Oddly, perhaps in part because of the kilted man's daring and baffling move, the racing was by all accounts the best we've seen this season in Formula One. And that's something Bernie Ecclestone needs to be thankful for, because his series has made no secret its desire to court a relatively dormant American audience, going so far as to land Budweiser in hopes of crossing the great divide. Well, we're guessing the Bud thing won't hurt F1's chances in this country. But it won't do the trick, either. Because Joe Racing Fan in America is lured by dicey passing, side-by-side action that promises some kind of spectacular resolution, drivers who swear at each other or take swipes at photographers, bikini models (most races have them somewhere), and, yes, beer. But kilted men on the fast straight certainly can be added to that list. CART was a big deal here in the '80s and into the '90s because average fans were familiar with the drivers, liked their brand of often wickedly cutthroat racing, and going to the race often promised sun, bikinis, beer and the smell of methanol. We won't go into the well-known details of the wretched split, but the IRL's niche, aside from Indianapolis Motor Speedway, was that the racing was going to be pure, based on driver skill and not equipment. We all know now the IRL is simply becoming what CART used to be (except for that all-oval thing), and while there's nothing wrong with that, fans still want to know that a swashbuckling Sam Hornish Jr. can win anywhere at any time. When Chevy's woeful engine program left the playing field so obviously uneven, something had to be done. So here's to hoping Sam's new Cosworth -- uh, Chevy -- puts some needed juice into the rest of the open-wheel season. If not, the IRL and CART both should look into the kilted man's whereabouts. Maybe he could fit them into his busy schedule. EXHAUST FUMES Spears Adding races, changing rules, battling restrictor plates. We hear enough about that stuff. So why aren't more people talking about the real issue -- is Britney Spears still committed to starring in a NASCAR-themed movie? One newspaper reported this week that Britney's likely out of the project. But another Web site -- Motorsportstv.com -- quoted a source as saying "the project is still being developed with Britney Spears Productions and Britney is still very much involved." Stop toying with us, young Queen of Pop! Are you in or out? A NASCAR movie starring Ms. Spears, of which news broke more than a year ago, would invariably bring more focus and attention to stock car racing in America. Plus, Spears could expand her fan base -- not that she needs to -- to a demographic more typically associated with Lynyrd Skynyrd and Molly Hatchet. After all, look what Crossroads did for ... um ... OK, did Crossroads do anything for anybody? Maybe we should rethink this ... Days of Thunder is a fun film but hardly an accurate portrayal of NASCAR racing. And while tying a big name like Britney Spears -- who as grand marshal at the 2001 Pepsi 400 was responsible for, yes, starting gentlemen's engines -- to a NASCAR-related project would generate headlines, would they be the type of headlines NASCAR needs? The core fans of the sport might be insulted that a bubble gum pop singer is suddenly a face of their sport. And despite her vast popularity, Spears' reputation as an actress doesn't exactly rival that of Meryl Streep. Might a NASCAR-Britney Spears project be more a subject of ridicule than a cash cow? Well, maybe. But if it's a fun movie with some Cup drivers in it -- much like Days of Thunder -- then it likely won't have too much of an effect either way. Maybe a few more people will think about NASCAR than did before, and maybe Britney Spears will sell a couple more CDs in Talladega. Or, a couple more posters, anyway. Shameless plug: This Friday at 1 p.m. ET stop by for a moderated audio chat with RPM.ESPN.com editor Jonathan Baum and ESPN.com NASCAR Insider Scott Symmes. You can ask them anything. Honest. Get started now by filling out the quick form. OVERHEARD Rubens Barrichello On the kilted man at the British GP. "If I tell you I never saw him, would you believe it? It's the second time that I win with someone on the race track. They're going to say he's Brazilian for sure." John Andretti On being knocked out in Loudon. "I'm furious -- Jimmy Spencer flat just took me out. He hit me once and then he hit me a second time and it's really just disappointing because he's got a full-time job. He's not making life any easier for me." Chip Ganassi On the status of his driver, Casey Mears: "He's fine. All these rumors are false. Unless he does something stupid, he's going to be here next year."

RPM.ESPN.com's Gas and Go appears each and every Tuesday on ESPN.com.