NASCAR NNCS (LOUDON) - IN THE LOOP

Cream Rises At NHIS

Statistically speaking, when the checkered flag waves at New Hampshire International Speedway late Sunday afternoon, the championship outlook should look as tight as it does now.

Only 60 points separate 12th place from first, and figuring how well practically all the Chase drivers perform at New Hampshire, not much should change.

Not surprisingly, the best shine at New Hampshire – a vital stop on the way to the championship. In each key Loop Data statistic, Chase drivers dominate. Below are the race bests at New Hampshire since 2005. Each category is peppered with Chase competitors (Chase drivers in bold):

Driver Rating Driver Date DR 1. Tony Stewart 7/05 149.2 2. Kevin Harvick 9/06 148.9 3. Tony Stewart 9/05 143.0 4. Kyle Busch 7/06 141.1 5. Ryan Newman 9/05 133.3

Average Running Position Driver Date ARP 1. Kevin Harvick 9/06 1.5 2. Tony Stewart 7/05 2.2 3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 7/07 2.7 4. Kyle Busch 7/06 2.9 5. Tony Stewart 9/05 2.9

Fastest Laps Run Driver Date FLR 1. Tony Stewart 7/05 80 2. Tony Stewart 9/05 71 3. Kevin Harvick 9/06 63 4. Ryan Newman 9/05 56 5. Kyle Busch 7/06 54

Quality Passes* Driver Date QP 1. Ryan Newman 7/07 50 2. Tony Stewart 7/07 48 3. Kyle Busch 7/07 47 3. Denny Hamlin 7/06 47 3. Jimmie Johnson 7/06 47

* – Quality Passes are passes of cars in the top 15 under green.

Not surprisingly, every name bolded – Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin – has won at least one race at NHIS (Stewart and Johnson have won two).

The same holds true in combined efforts as well. In every key Loop Data statistic, a Chase driver holds the top spot and is followed by other drivers competing for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup championship. See below:

Driver Rating Driver DR 1. Tony Stewart 116.9 2. Denny Hamlin 109.5 3. Jeff Gordon 106.4 4. Kevin Harvick 104.4 5. Ryan Newman 101.9

Average Running Position Driver ARP 1. Jeff Gordon 7.4 2. Denny Hamlin 8.8 3. Kevin Harvick 10.2 4. Brian Vickers 10.3 5. Jeff Burton 10.7

Laps in the Top 15 Driver LT15 1. Jeff Gordon 1,321 2. Jeff Burton 1,208 3. Tony Stewart 1,200 4. Ryan Newman 1,151 5. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 1,142

Fastest Laps Run Driver FLR 1. Tony Stewart 173 2. Jeff Gordon 122 3. Kevin Harvick 91 4. Kyle Busch 86 5. Ryan Newman 85

But of the Chase drivers, Denny Hamlin has been the most consistent in his brief NHIS tenure. Hamlin, with a win there in July, is looking for the Loudon sweep. In three NHIS races, he has never finished worse than sixth, had a Driver Rating below 105.8 or an Average Running Position of under 8.7. Below are some of his numbers over his three races.

Denny Hamlin at New Hampshire Date Finish ARP DR LT15 7/06 6 8.8 107.8 250 of 308 9/06 4 8.7 105.8 298 of 300 7/07 1 9.0 114.9 256 of 300 ARP: Avg. Running Position; DR: Driver Rating; LT15: Laps in the Top 15