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Last week's winner at Chicagoland, Dale Earnhardt Jr., has three top 10s in his last four New Hampshire Cup races.
Junior has momentum on his side and he'll be bringing a new car to New Hampshire -- one that crew chief Steve Hmiel and his team built over the last two weeks.
Dale Jarrett's 14 top-10 finishes at New Hampshire lead all active drivers in that category.
Although Jarrett didn't have a particularly good result last Sunday in placing 18th at Chicagoland, fifth-place finishes in the two races prior to last weekend's event have helped him get to within nine points of qualifying for the Chase.
Rusty Wallace has climbed to fourth in the championship standings. His career record on this demanding flat track is highlighted by one win, six top-fives, 11 top-10s, and two poles.
Jeff Burton is my darkhorse as during the time he was driving for Roush Racing he won four times at New Hampshire, going to Victory Lane at this track in each season from 1997-2000.
Burton, who is with Richard Childress Racing, led all 300 laps in the September 2000 New Hampshire race.
Keys to success at New Hampshire
This is a flat track and its long straightaways and tight turns make it similar, but bigger than Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. It is banked at only 12 degrees off the corners.
The key to this track is getting through the middle and off of the corners. A driver needs to get his car to rotate in the corner and have lots of forward bite exiting the corners.
Racing well at New Hampshire requires a lot of throttle and brake input, and with a tremendous amount of braking going on, the right front tire can heat up and its rubber melt.
There is a passing lane to the inside, but this is a tough track to pass on, and if a car is not handling well that driver is in for a long day.
In the past, the cars would get such a grip at this track, the pavement actually tore up.
So they have resurfaced it more than once and have finally found asphalt (imported from the Caribbean) that has kept in place very well.
They also changed the track a little bit with the aim of making the groove a little wider and that seems to have helped the racing.
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