The Winston Cup championship battle is beginning to have a David vs. Goliath feel. The small town Wisconsin boy who has little name recognition beyond NASCAR Nation, taking on the biggest names in the sport and beating them handily.

With 17 races remaining, Matt Kenseth has opened up a sizeable 234-point advantage over four-time Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is 273 points back in third.

To put this in perspective, Kenseth could spend this Sunday afternoon fishing in the Poconos instead of racing, and would still leave eastern Pennsylvania with a minimum 49-point lead. That's right, Kenseth has lapped the field.

With just one win to his credit this season, Kenseth's approach has lacked explosion, but definitely not punch. He has recorded a series-leading 15 top-10 finishes in 19 events.

Now, as the series makes its second lap around the schedule it appears David has a distinct advantage over Goliath. At the remaining tracks where the Winston Cup series is scheduled to visit a second time (Pocono, Michigan, Bristol, Darlington, Richmond, Loudon, Dover, Talladega, Charlotte, Martinsville, Atlanta and Rockingham) Kenseth averaged a 6.17 finish in the first go around. Meanwhile, Gordon and Earnhardt Jr. each averaged an 11.17 finish in those 12 events.

There undoubtedly will be those who argue this is more than a three-man race. After all, at this point last season Tony Stewart was seventh in the standings and went on to claim the title. But this year's race is quite different. In 2002, 227 points separated positions one through seven. That's seven points less than the current margin between first and second.

So let's break it down.

Historically, Gordon has been very strong during this stretch of the season. At the next four tracks (Pocono, Indianapolis, Watkins Glen and Michigan) he has a combined 12 victories.

But the DuPont team knows that a dominant past doesn't guarantee a brilliant future. For example, heading into last week's New England 300 Gordon boasted a record of three wins and more than 900 laps led in New Hampshire. Still, the record book is no substitute for a gallon of 76 racing fuel, which may have been the difference between winning and ending up where they did, 24th.

For Gordon that was a missed opportunity, perhaps the same phrase Junior's Budweiser team would use to describe their day at Chicagoland Speedway. In a rare display of mediocrity, Kenseth finished 12th but Earnhardt Jr. failed to capitalize. He crashed and ended the day 38th.

Unfortunately for his challengers, Kenseth will not be fishing this weekend in the Poconos. Instead, his pursuers will be the ones trying to reel him in.

This week Kenseth will drive the same car he used to lead 10 laps and finish third in June's Pocono 500. That was his best career finish at the 2½-mile triangular-shaped speedway, and his fourth top-10 there in seven attempts.

Incidentally, that event showcased the best head-to-head battle between the point leaders this season. Earnhardt Jr. entered the day second in the standings. He battled door-to-door with Kenseth throughout the afternoon, led 22 laps, but ultimately lost the battle and finished a position behind Kenseth. The fourth-place finish was only Earnhardt Jr.'s second top-10 finish at Pocono, a track that at times has been a house of horrors for him.

"This was one of the places where I used to dread," explained Junior. "We didn't have a handle on making the car consistently fast, but those days are long gone."

As for Gordon, the old days weren't so bad. He has three wins (1996, 1997 and 1998), two poles (1996 and 1998), 10 top-fives and 15 top-10s in 21 Pocono starts.

However, like in New Hampshire last week, bad luck neutralized his strength in June. Gordon cut a tire on lap 2 of the Pocono 500 and had to rally back for a modest 13th-place finish.

Misfortune will inevitably play a role again this weekend. At times it seems the only difference between the Bermuda triangle and the Pocono triangle is that one eats ships and airplanes while the other devours race cars.

Nine cars failed to finish this past June and the attrition rate is sure to be high again on Sunday. Kenseth, Gordon and Earnhardt Jr. are all well aware of this fact and each realizes that while they can't win the championship this weekend, they can certainly take a large step in the direction of losing it if they're not careful.

Mike Massaro covers NASCAR for ESPN and ESPN.com.