New Hampshire Motor Speedway boasts a statistic that may breed some major Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup implications. That stat: There have been six different winners in the past six races. New Hampshire’s reputation as a competitively balanced track grew with each passing NASCAR Nationwide Series race at NHMS – there were 23 different winners in the first 23 races. That streak was broken last year when Kyle Busch finally repeated.
So what does this mean for the Chase? Plenty. Here are a few storylines to watch, all stemming from the unpredictability of the one-mile Loudon track.
Wild Card Watch Continues: After race No. 26 at Richmond, the top-10 drivers in points will earn berths into the 12-driver Chase. Spots 11 and 12 will go to those drivers with the most wins, provided they are in the top 20. Ties go to the driver with the best points position. Currently, David Ragan would hold the first Wild Card spot, thanks to his Coke Zero 400 win at Daytona. Tony Stewart, who sits in 11th and has the best pre-race Driver Rating at New Hampshire (113.0), would grab Wild Card spot No. 2, even though he is winless. Of the last six winners at New Hampshire, four currently reside outside the top 10 – Mark Martin, Clint Bowyer, Greg Biffle and Joey Logano.
Bad Brad Good At NHMS: An extension of the “Wild Card Watch” nugget, watch for Brad Keselowski, who is closing fast on a top 20 spot. His seventh-place finish at Kentucky moved him within three points of the top 20. Keselowski won the pole last September at New Hampshire, and had a sixth-place finish in June of 2009.
Burton Not Done Yet: Jeff Burton, a usual Chase contender, has struggled this season – as his points position of 25th would suggest. Still, the Wild Card is within reach. He’s the all-time wins leader at New Hampshire with four.
Potential Chase Bonus Points: All Chase drivers will have their points reset to 2,000 once the field is set, but only those in the top 10 will earn three bonus points for each win in the regular season. Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick have a series-high three wins apiece, translating to nine potential bonus points.
NHMS A Chase Warm Up: Only one track holds a race in both the Race to the Chase (the 10 races that precede the Chase) and the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup: New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Consider this a note-gathering session for a crew chiefs with championship thoughts.
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