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CONCORD, N.C. - Tony Stewart is the man to beat over the last six races in the Winston Cup season. Maybe.

Stewart took the lead in the close title chase last week, moving 72 points ahead of Mark Martin going into today's UAW-GM 500. But no one has emerged as a dominant force.

Matt Kenseth, Martin's Roush Racing teammate, is tied with four-time champion Jeff Gordon for sixth place, 201 points behind. That's still in the chase, mathematically.

"It's been such a weird year because everybody's had so many problems," Kenseth said Saturday. "There really haven't been many cars run consistently good all year."

The proof is Stewart, in the lead despite starting the season with a last-place finish in the Daytona 500 and failing to finish five other races.

Now he is considered the favorite, mostly because the series closes out the season at six tracks on which Stewart has had success.

The fourth-year Winston Cup star also has been a champion before, although not in stock cars. He has won the Indy Racing League title, four U.S. Auto Club championships, as well as the World Karting Association National title and an International Karting Grand National championship.

"Being the favorite doesn't mean a thing to me, to be honest," Stewart said. "We've gained some momentum, but I think there are still a couple of teams out there that have found a little bit more at these tracks than we have."

Stewart said his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Pontiac has a handicap, too.

"We're still racing a 6-year-old car that we're trying to get caught up with everybody else," he said.

The Fords apparently have no such problem - at least at Lowe's Motor Speedway - and nobody would be surprised if a Roush Taurus wins today.

Martin, who won the Coca-Cola 600 in May, is expected to be strong again, while teammates Kenseth, who finished second, Jeff Burton and Kurt Busch are also among the favorites.

BUSCH: Burton routed the field Saturday, lapping all but three cars while winning the Little Trees 300 at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Burton won for the fifth time in only 12 Busch Series starts this year. It was his seventh victory in his last 14 Busch races and the 20th of his career.

Averaging 142.443 mph, he beat pole-starter Michael Waltrip to the finish line by 19.493 seconds - more than half a lap.

ARCA: Deborah Renshaw is out of the hospital and on the way to resuming her career, which her car owner believes will go on as scheduled next season.

Renshaw, injured in an accident that killed driver Eric Martin during practice for an ARCA race on Wednesday, had four pins inserted into her left ankle and foot before she was released from a Charlotte hospital Friday.

Rick Goodwin, who plans to field a Busch car for the 25-year-old driver next season, said Saturday the team would continue to prepare for her to drive for them.

Renshaw was scheduled to make her Busch series debut next weekend in Memphis, Tenn., but Regan Smith will now drive the car.

"We plan to run Deborah in the Busch series next year, that hasn't changed," Goodwin said. "She just started testing last week and we were impressed."

NASCAR today

Event: UAW-GM Quality 500, Concord, N.C.

Time/TV: 12:30/Ch. 5, 22.

Track: Lowe's Motor Speedway (quad-oval, 1.5 miles, 24 degrees banking in turns).

Race distance: 500 miles, 334 laps.

Defending champ: Sterling Marlin

Fast fact: Tony Stewart is the fifth driver to take over the points lead this season after his second-place finish at Talladega last week. ... Five polesitters have won the race, but none since Harry Gant in 1982.

Next race: Martinsville 500, Oct. 20, Martinsville, Va.

Points totals

1. Tony Stewart	3,958
2. Mark Martin	3,886
3. Jimmie Johnson	3,876
4. Ryan Newman	3,821
5. Rusty Wallace	3,786
6. Matt Kenseth	3,757
7. Jeff Gordon	3,757
8. Bill Elliott	3,729

Formula One: It's all Schumacher, to no one's surprise

SUZUKA, Japan - Michael Schumacher wasn't satisfied with just clinching the pole for the season-ending Japanese Grand Prix.

The five-time Formula One champion stayed on the Suzuka track after clinching the pole, turning a fast lap of 1 minute, 31.317 on the 3.636-mile circuit for the 50th pole of his F1 career.

"Obviously it's no secret we have a great car," Schumacher said. "It is quite fun to drive out there.

"Several cars were still out there, and when I was out there, there was no point to come back in again. I wanted to finish it and see what we could do, because we made a setup change on the car and wanted to develop it."

Schumacher's run comes just days after Formula One officials recommended a plan to handicap a car by adding extra weight if its team builds an early points lead next season.

The Ferrari driver, seeking his third straight Japanese Grand Prix victory today, has won seven poles this season and is second on the career list behind Ayrton Senna (65).

Schumacher has a record 10 victories this year, pushing his record total to 63.

Qualifying was delayed for more than an hour after a crash by Scotland's Allan McNish. He was shaken after his Toyota went backward into a barrier, but was not seriously injured, International Automobile Federation spokesman Syd Watkins said.

Rubens Barrichello, Schumacher's Ferrari teammate and a four-time winner this year, qualified second in 1:31.749.

David Coulthard was third in a McLaren-Mercedes at 1:32.088. Kimi Raikkonen of McLaren was fourth.