Matt Kenseth celebrates his first win of the 2007 season in the Auto Club 500 at California Speedway in Sonoma, Calif.

Many of his statistics this season rival those of Nextel Cup Series points leader Jeff Gordon, but as has become custom in his career, Matt Kenseth hasn’t garnered near the attention.

Perhaps it’s Gordon’s overwhelming edge in wins – four to one. Or the way Gordon has won his races – one while his engine was on the verge of overheating, the most recent at Pocono when rain cut short the race with Gordon in the lead.

While Gordon has stayed in the spotlight, Kenseth has remained steady in second place.

With both drivers on track to compete for this season’s Chase for the Nextel Cup, Kenseth relishes the perceived underdog role.

“Some guys obviously like to see themselves on TV more than others, but I definitely don’t shy away from it, either,” Kenseth said. “Being, I think, the underdog and not having all the attention in the past has been an advantage for us. I think it still is.

“I think sometimes when not just the driver but the team and everybody gets a ton of media all the time and a ton of coverage and all that, I think actually expectations go up and it puts pressure on the guy and takes some of the focus from our driving.

“Certainly if we can just work on race cars and concentrate on that, I think that’s an advantage.”

It has certainly paid off so far this season.

Kenseth started the year with a 27th-place finish at Daytona, then followed that with a victory the next weekend at California. Since then, Kenseth has finished no worse than 14th and has six top-five and 10 top-10 finishes in 14 races.

Gordon, who leads Kenseth by 242 points in the standings, has 10 top-five and 12 top-10 finishes – numbers certainly not dramatically more impressive than Kenseth’s.

Gordon has also been part of an even larger story this season – Hendrick Motorsports’ dominance. Hendrick drivers have won 10 of the 14 races this season.

Kenseth, on the other hand, is the only Ford, Roush Fenway Racing and non-Chevrolet driver to earn a Cup win so far this season, a distinction also worthy of merit.

“You always hope to be doing a little bit better, but certainly our car has been great, the car has been really reliable and we’ve been able to complete every lap so far and we’ve had great pit stops,” Kenseth said.

“Overall, the cars have been pretty competitive, so certainly we haven’t been at the spot where (Gordon) and (Jimmie Johnson) and even (Denny Hamlin) and some of them guys have been even as far as a competition standpoint, but we’ve been really consistent.”

Don’t get Kenseth wrong. He and crew chief Robbie Reiser are out for more victories this season and Sunday’s Citizens Bank 400 at Michigan International Speedway presents a strong candidate for their next one.

Kenseth’s average finish of 7.9 at Michigan is second-best among the 23 tracks that he has raced at in his Cup career, trailing only Las Vegas (7.6). His average finish is also best all-time among drivers with two or more starts at Michigan.

“It has three or four grooves, and really, anywhere we go that there’s plenty of room to pass I enjoy racing at (and) Michigan is one of those tracks,” said Kenseth who has two wins at Michigan, including the August race here last season.

“It obviously helps that we’ve ran good there in the past, but I like how you can move around and find a groove that works best for you. There’s a lot of passing and it’s always a good show.”