Sprint Cup drivers race to New Hampshire

Now in first place in the Sprint Cup Series standings, Kyle Busch will be looking to pick up his second consecutive checkered flag when the circuit hits New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday for the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 (1pm ET, TNT).

Busch vaulted into top spot in the driver standings with his victory over the weekend in the Quaker State 400, the first-ever Sprint Cup Series event at Kentucky Speedway. Moving up from third place in the standings, Busch now has a four-point lead on Carl Edwards and a 10-point advantage on Kevin Harvick.

Edwards ended up in fifth place at Kentucky Speedway, while Harvick was 16th. The race's Top 10 also included David Reutimann, Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Newman, Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski, David Ragan, Kurt Busch, and Jeff Gordon.

More important than the points to Busch, though, is the win � he's now tied with Harvick at a series-high three victories so far this season; when the standings are reset at the outset of the Chase, drivers will start with an extra three points for each victory they picked up during the regular-season schedule.

Kurt Busch is fourth in the current drivers standings, with Johnson, Kenseth, Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Newman, and Denny Hamlin rounding out the Top 10 � if the 12-man Chase started this week, they'd all qualify automatically.

Tony Stewart and Clint Bowyer are currently 11th and 12th in the driver standings, but neither has won a race so far this season. That could put them on the outside looking in when the Chase gets underway in September, as any driver between 11th and 20th in the standings with a race win would bump them from the field.

And that's good news for Ragan, who sits 15th in the standings but has one win on his resume this season. Keselowski and Regan Smith also have series wins this year but need to do some work to get into Chase contention � Keselowski is 21st in the current standings, while Smith is 27th.

And on the Oddsmaker Sprint Cup future board Ragan and Keselowski are both at +4000 to win the Sprint Cup this season, with Smith part of The Field at +7500. Stewart is at +2000 on that list, with Bowyer at +3000.

Johnson (+300), Edwards (+350), Harvick (+600), Kyle Busch (+600), and Kurt Busch (+600) continue to lead the way on the Oddsmaker Sprint Cup futures board.

As for this week's event at New Hampshire, the last 12 Cup races at the track have been won by 11 different drivers � Bowyer (twice). Johnson, Mark Martin, Joey Logano, Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, Hamlin, Harvick, Kyle Busch, Newman, and Stewart.

Going back a little farther, Kurt Busch swept the New Hampshire races in 2004, and Jimmie Johnson did the same in 2003. Jeff Burton had four New Hampshire wins from 1997 to 2000, and Gordon won there three times from 1995 to 1998.