By MIKE HARRIS,
AP Auto Racing Writer

LOUDON, N.H. (AP) If consistency can still win a championship in NASCAR's Sprint Cup series, Jeff Burton is a serious contender to win his first title.

In 16 races this season, the Richard Childress Racing driver has one win, four top-fives, 10 top-10s and has not finished worse than 15th.

"I'm good with it, if it yields results," Burton said. "At the end of the day, though, our goal wasn't having an average finish of 8.9 or whatever. Our goal was to lead more laps than we did last year, to win more races than we did last year, to be solidly in the top 12 in points ... and, when the Chase starts, to be a real contender."

Still, it remains to be seen if consistency can get the job done.