The NASCAR Playoffs move to New Hampshire Motor Speedway for the Sylvania 300. Which Chase Grid driver has the best shot at winning on the Magic Mile?
The track’s nickname could produce “good magic” or “bad magic” for drivers. The one mile oval track has the room to get side-by-side and race for position. There is room to get two or even three wide or more.
However, with minimal banking through the turns a car better have great handling before getting under another car or cars to make the pass through those turns. If the handling isn’t there you can about guarantee the pass won’t work and will likely end in a crash.
If a car is not handling well the driver will also be using a lot of breaks around the track. The result of that will be slower times and potentially even seeing their chance at winning the race going up in flames.
Mistake free driving and pit stops will be a must to be in position to see the checkered flag first like Kyle Busch did earlier this year at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Joey Logano did in this race in 2014.
The question remains, of the Chase Grid drivers, who has the best results at the track over their career and possibly the best chance at scoring the win? Here are the basic performance stats of the top 16 drivers in the Chase.
#1 – Matt Kenseth
Driver rating 86.5 (16th best)
1 win, 7 top fives, 16 top tens
#2 – Denny Hamlin
Driver rating 102.4 (3rd best)
2 wins, 7 top fives, 11 top tens
#3 – Carl Edwards
Driver rating 87.0 (14th best)
0 wins, 2 top fives, 6 top tens
#4 – Kyle Busch
Driver rating 96.7 (7th best)
2 wins, 8 top fives, 11 top tens
# 5 – Kurt Busch
Driver rating 88.8 (12th best)
3 wins, 7 top fives, 12 top tens
#6 – Joey Logano
Driver rating 79.9 (19th best)
2 wins, 4 top fives, 6 top tens
#7 – Jimmie Johnson
Driver rating 100.9 (4th best)
3 wins, 10 top fives, 18 top tens
#8 – Ryan Newman
Driver rating 91.5 (10th best)
3 wins, 7 top fives, 16 top tens
#9 – Brad Keselowski
Driver rating 98.7 (5th best)
1 win, 5 top fives, 8 top tens
#10 – Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Driver rating 97.5 (6th best)
0 wins, 8 top fives, 15 top tens
#11 – Martin Truex Jr.
Driver rating 86.8 (15th best)
0 wins, 3 top fives, 6 top tens
#12 – Jeff Gordon
Driver Rating 106.7 (series best)
3 wins, 16 top fives, 23 top tens
#13 – Jamie McMurray
Driver rating 70.8 (22nd best)
0 wins, 4 top fives, 6 top tens
#14 – Paul Menard
Driver rating 61.4 (28th best)
0 wins, 0 top fives, 0 top tens
#15 – Clint Bowyer
Driver rating 92.6 (9th best)
2 wins, 4 top fives, 7 top tens
#16 – Kevin Harvick
Driver rating 94.6 (8th best)
1 win, 7 top fives, 15 top tens
Jeff Gordon would have to be considered a favorite for the win with the best driver rating at the track and being one of the five active drivers with three wins on the Magic Mile. However, that first win in his final full-time season has eluded him so far this year. Sitting in the final transfer position for this round of The Chase, it would be perfect timing to capture that checkered flag.
Denny Hamlin grabbed the win last week at Chicagoland and secured his spot in the next round on the Chase Grid. Getting another win does not gain any bonus points at this point of the year and the points will again be reset level for the remaining 12 championship contenders when the next round begins. However, building the momentum of another win for the team could be worth more than points. With two wins and the third best driver rating should make Denny a favorite this week.
Kevin Harvick had a disastrous start to the Chase at Chicagoland landing him at the bottom of the Chase Grid this week. Kevin should be considered a favorite since he is in the top ten for driver rating, has won at New Hampshire and is the defending Sprint Cup Champion. You can bet that he will be very motivate to win this week to secure his spot in the next round of the Chase.
I am going to throw Dale Earnhardt Jr. in a similar category as Kevin for being motivated to win. Following last week’s race Dale Jr. said he had a faster car than the results he achieved at Chicagoland. He has not won at New Hampshire before, but he does have the eighth best driver rating at the track. That says that Dale Jr. knows how to be around the front at the end of the race at the Magic Mile. Perhaps this will be the New Hampshire race the he finds his way to capture his first win at the track.
Of course all the Chase grid drivers will be driving hard for the win to get the automatic advance to the next round. All of the non-contenders will be driving hard to simply get a win to build toward next year. The result could be mistakes that take out Chase and non-Chase drivers at any point of the race.
Will it be a Chase Grid driver winning and punching his ticket to the next round or another driver playing the part of spoiler and capturing the checkered flag when the dust settles? We will find out when the drivers battle on the Magic Mile of New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the Sylvania 300 Sunday, September 27th starting at 1pm central time.
By: Buck Stevens
