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Location: New Hampshire International Speedway
Time: Sunday 1:30PM EST / 12:30PM CST / 10:30PM PST
2005 Pole Winner: Brian Vickers #25
2005 Winner: Tony Stewart #20

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When thinking of the largest sporting event in New England, the first thing that probably comes to mind is a New England Patriots game or a Boston Red Sox game. Boston College at home against Notre Dame is always a pretty large college football game as is Yale versus Harvard. However, nothing comes close to NASCAR rolling into Loudon, New Hampshire where there are over 120,000 fans in attendance. Because the Cup Series has two dates, they also take second place in the ranking.

The second date that New Hampshire has is a pivotal race in the Chase for the Championship. In some ways it may be the most pivotal because it’s the first race of the chase. It's where the driver who does well to start the chase is given the confidence to finish the chase strong.

The first race in Loudon was in 1993 and it coincides with NASCAR's real rise in popularity across America and changing its image from being just a "Southern Thing" to actually being something that all sectors of the country could follow. Who could have imagined that New England, which is so intertwined with our great History and in some ways is devoted and stuck in the areas long standing traditions, would open their arms to NASCAR and say, "Chowdah for everyone!"

The facility itself is wonderful. It's a track that stands alone amidst all clones throughout the NASCAR nation. It's a relatively flat one mile track where the only comparison that can be made might be Phoenix. Although the layouts of the two tracks are much different, the flat nature of both makes them relative for comparison.

The data from the history of the two tracks support that there is common ground between success and failure at each. In recent history we have seen Jeff Burton, Tony Stewart, and Kurt Busch dominate both Loudon and Phoenix. There are several other drivers that have a long line of consistency at both tracks which makes analyzing what happened in the desert back in April more important than ever for bettors attempting to get a jump start on the odds to win and match-ups before any practice session or qualifying takes place.

Kevin Harvick (12/1) won the last Phoenix race while he was in the middle of a terrific stretch of running well, which coincided with him getting a contract extension shortly after. Because he won the race, you have to look at him again this week as the driver to beat. Look for both of his teammates, Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer to fare well this week as well. In the Phoenix race Harvick won, Bowyer finished fifth and Burton took ninth place. It would appear that we have a team here that likes each other and is sharing the quality info.

Tony Stewart (7/1) is going to be awfully tough to beat. He is the oddsmakers’ favorite to win the race and he is running very well right now despite running out of fuel last week and having a banged up shoulder.

Kyle Busch (12/1) sat on the pole in Phoenix this year and finished fourth in his very first Loudon race last season. Last season he also happened to win the fall race in Phoenix which makes him a prime candidate to take this week’s race. Just like his brother, Kurt, and Jeff Burton, they went on monster streaks with quality set ups at the two tracks.

Matt Kenseth (10/1) and Greg Biffle (10/1) lead the Roush gang into battle this week. We use the word "battle" as a matter of fact because the gloves come off if Jeff Gordon gets anywhere near Kenseth during the race. Kenseth doesn't have a win on either of the tracks but does have several top five finishes. Kenseth may be at ease a little more this week only because he ran out of gas following the spinout caused by Gordon meaning that Gordon didn't cost him the race. However, I have a feeling this chapter isn't over between these two.

I'd like to endorse Kurt Busch (14/1) as a play but can't, much the same way I can't for Jamie McMurray (40/1) who is driving the cars Busch ran so well with when winning all those Loudon and Phoenix races.

We'll stick with the successful pattern that has been laid out over recent history and go with past success to win this week.

Top Five Finish Prediction:
1) #20 Tony Stewart (7/1)
2) #5 Kyle Busch (12/1)
3) #29 Kevin Harvick (12/1)
4) #31 Jeff Burton (16/1)
5) #17 Matt Kenseth (10/1)

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1	12	Ryan Newman	
2	31	Jeff Burton	
3	25	Brian Vickers
4	5	Kyle Busch	
5	20	Tony Stewart	
6	48	Jimmie Johnson	
7	24	Jeff Gordon	
8	1	Martin Truex Jr.	
9	41	Reed Sorenson
10	2	Kurt Busch	
11	9	Kasey Kahne	
12	11	Denny Hamlin
13	6	Mark Martin	
14	29	Kevin Harvick	
15	96	Tony Raines	
16	01	Joe Nemechek	
17	99	Carl Edwards	
18	38	Elliott Sadler	
19	178	Kenny Wallace	
20	18	J.J. Yeley
21	21	Ken Schrader	
22	40	David Stremme
23	14	Sterling Marlin	
24	17	Matt Kenseth	
25	8	Dale Earnhardt Jr.
26	16	Greg Biffle	
27	43	Bobby Labonte	
28	22	Dave Blaney	
29	42	Casey Mears	
30	32	Travis Kvapil
31	07	Clint Bowyer
32	88	Dale Jarrett	
33	26	Jamie McMurray	
34	7	Robby Gordon	
35	66	Jeff Green	
36	4	Scott Wimmer	
37	19	Jeremy Mayfield	
38	49	Kevin Lepage	
39	55	Michael Waltrip	
40	95	Stanton Barrett	
41	45	Kyle Petty	
42	10	Scott Riggs
43	100	Bill Elliott

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My fantasy 5 lineup are going to be the same. Still havent changed them for quite sometime, and they have been doing well. So what switch up?

24 Jeff Gordon
29 Kevin Harvick
31 Jeff Burton
 9 Kasey Kahne
 8 Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

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LIT 300: Odds to Win the Race
Sun 7/16: 2:10PM EST / 11:10 AM PST
 	101 Tony Stewart 	+558
  	102 Greg Biffle 	+1228
  	103 Matt Kenseth 	+1666
  	104 Jimmie Johnson 	+710
  	105 Kasey Kahne 	+2231
  	106 Jeff Gordon 	+1469
  	107 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 	+2163
  	108 Kurt Busch          +1815
  	109 Kyle Busch  	+1063
  	110 Kevin Harvick 	+1554
  	111 Jeff Burton 	+1124
  	112 Carl Edwards 	+2003
  	113 Ryan Newman 	+1680
  	114 Denny Hamlin 	+2513
  	115 Mark Martin 	+2494
  	116 Jamie McMurray 	+8000
  	117 Brian Vickers 	+1544
  	118 Bobby Labonte 	+6500
  	119 Scott Riggs 	+11000
  	120 Elliott Sadler 	+10000
  	121 Casey Mears 	+10000
  	122 J.J. Yeley 	        +12500
  	123 Joe Nemechek 	+10000
  	124 Clint Bowyer 	+11000
  	125 Reed Sorenson 	+2222
  	126 Martin Truex Jr. 	+4293
  	127 Dale Jarrett 	+15000
  	128 Jeremy Mayfield 	+15000
  	129 The Field 	        +2543