The Sprint Cup circuit heads north again this week to tackle 300 laps on the 1.058-mile New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H. This event, of course, marks the first of 10 Chase for the Championship events in NASCAR’s quest for the Cup, where Kyle Busch will lead a field of 12 title-eligible contestants.

New Hampshire Motor Speedway resembles Martinsville on steroids; a flat track where a lot of speed is carried into the sharp turns, placing passing and braking at a premium. The June event in Loudon witnessed a bizarre rain-induced finish. Kurt Busch led an unlikely foursome of Michael Waltrip, J.J. Yeley, Martin Truex Jr. and Elliott Sadler to the line. Pit strategy late in the race forced Tony Stewart, who had led a race-high 132 laps, along with contenders Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Jimmie Johnson to pit, handing the lead — and eventually the win — to Busch.

The aforementioned quartet should prove tough to beat once again at NHMS. Stewart has been close to winning a number of times this season but has come up short in every instance. He’s hungry to break the losing streak, and a win in Chase Race No. 1 would go a long way toward turning his frustrating season around. Stewart is a two-time New Hampshire winner and has four finishes of third or better there in the last seven races.

His Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Denny Hamlin, has been as consistently good as any driver on the circuit in Loudon. In five career Cup starts, Hamlin has yet to finish outside of the top 15, with a win coming in 2007. Hamlin has three consecutive third-place runs to his credit entering the Chase, which tells us momentum is definitely on his side.

Speaking of momentum, the on-again, off-again No. 29 team headed by Kevin Harvick appears to be peaking at just the right time. Harvick has only one finish worse than eighth in the last eight races. The bad run came at Indianapolis, where he was a victim of Goodyear’s detonators-disguised-as-tires. If there is one team that has a clear shot at breaking the Kyle Busch/Carl Edwards/Jimmie Johnson points-stranglehold, this is the one. Harvick won this event in 2006.

And of course the Big Three need mentioning, as Busch, Edwards and Johnson have combined to win 10 of the circuit’s last 11 races — the lone exception being the June New Hampshire race. Johnson has been very good at NHMS, with two wins and eight top 10s to his credit. Busch and Edwards have been a bit sketchy. Edwards has averaged a 14th-place showing (one top five) in eight races in the Granite state, while a 2006 win for Busch has been offset by three finishes of 25th or worse in seven starts. It is worth mentioning that Busch finished fourth in this race last season.

A typical New Hampshire event averages out in the 100 – 110 mph range. Weather for the event could be testy. Showers are possible throughout the day on Sunday, which could make a race that usually has its share of twists even more unpredictable.