New Hampshire Chase package

New Hampshire Chase package

Sporting News NASCAR Service


Sylvania 300 fact box
Where: New Hampshire Motor Speedway ; Loudon , N.H.
When: Sunday, 1:15 p.m. ET
TV: ESPN, 1 p.m. ET
Radio: PRN/Sirius Satellite Ch. 128


Race distance: 300 laps/317.4 miles
Estimated pit window: 70-78 laps
Qualifying: Friday, 3:10 p.m. ET
Track layout: 1.058-mile oval
Frontstretch: 1,500 feet
Backstretch: 1,500 feet
Banking in straights: 1 degrees
Banking in turns: 12 degrees
2009 winner: Mark Martin
2009 polesitter: Juan Pablo Montoya

Points leaders: 1. Denny Hamlin, 5,060; 2. Jimmie Johnson, 5,050; 3. Kevin Harvick, 5,030; 4. Kyle Busch, 5,030; 5. Kurt Busch, 5,020; 6. Tony Stewart, 5,010; 7. Greg Biffle, 5,010; 8. Jeff Gordon, 5,000; 9. Carl Edwards, 5,000; 10. Jeff Burton, 5,000; 11. Matt Kenseth, 5,000; 12. Clint Bowyer, 5,000.


Three-wide: What to look for in Sunday's Sylvania 300
1. Who has been sandbagging? Sunday's race should tell us a lot about the way the Chase will go. Are there drivers who have been saving their best equipment for the final 10 races? We'll find out Sunday when the Chase begins in earnest.
2. Make or break for Kurt Busch. Traditionally strong at New Hampshire , as his three wins there attest, Busch needs a strong performance at the Magic Mile to show he's a contender for the title.
3. A win for Juan? It's high time Juan Pablo Montoya turns his stellar qualifying record into an oval-track win. Of all the Chase tracks, New Hampshire and California provide Montoya his best opportunities.
— Reid Spencer, Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

Track analysis by Clint Bowyer
"Loudon is just a good little racetrack. You've got to have speed. You've got to be able to roll through the center good and get to the gas early and be able to hold the gas down. That's the biggest thing there."


Past winners of New Hampshire Chase races
2004: Kurt Busch
2005: Ryan Newman
2006: Kevin Harvick
2007: Clint Bowyer
2008: Greg Biffle
2009: Mark Martin

Sporting News' pick: Jimmie Johnson
The four-time defending champ says, "Come and get me," when he sweeps the season at Loudon.


The last time around: Johnson outduels Kurt Busch
June 27, 2010: In what was billed as a race full of potential payback after the prior week's shootout at Sonoma , revenge had to wait until the final three laps of Sunday's Lenox Industrial Tools 301.
That's when Jimmie Johnson gave Kurt Busch's No. 2 Dodge a race-winning retaliatory nudge as the drivers raced into Turn 3 on Lap 299.
Busch had shocked Johnson on Lap 294 of 301 at the 1.058-mile track when he shoved Johnson's No. 48 Chevrolet up the track in Turn 3, moments after the final restart of the race. Busch's lead was short-lived, however, as Johnson bumped him on Lap 299 and completed the winning pass in Turn 1 on Lap 300.
Tony Stewart ran second, .753 seconds behind Johnson, after his No. 14 Chevy slid into Busch's Dodge in Turn 1 while overtaking for the runner-up spot. Busch finished third, ahead of Jeff Gordon and Cup points leader Kevin Harvick.
"When we got going on the restart, Kurt knocked me out of the way, and I thought, 'I don't care if I win this race or not—I don't care if I finish this damn thing—I am running into him and getting back by him one way or another,'" Johnson said after being doused with beer in victory lane.
"I'm not good at doing that stuff. Usually I crash myself in the process, so I tried once and moved him—(and thought) 'Oh, yeah, I've got to hit him harder'—and the second time I moved him out of the way and was able to get by him and was able to get going."