One race down, nine to go to crown a champion. That’s where the NASCAR Cup playoffs stand heading into this weekend’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Following the playoff opener at Chicagoland Speedway, four drivers below the cutoff line – Kurt Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kasey Kahne and Ryan Newman – have races at New Hampshire and Dover to bounce back.
Kevin Harvick is the defending race winner. Matt Kenseth has won three of the last eight races at the 1.058-mile flat track. Denny Hamlin is a two-time winner there, including this past July.
Courtesy of Racing Insights, here’s this week’s Who’s Hot and Who’s Not:
Cup – Who Is Hot
No. 78 Martin Truex Jr. (Hot)
- Won at Chicago after a speeding penalty and loose lugs
- Finished in the top 10 a series-high 18 times
- Won a series-high 18 stages
- 58 Playoff Points includes 15 points for clinching the regular season
- Five wins this season, most of all drivers and personal best
- Led a series-high 1,723 laps in 2017, led the most laps in eight races
- Started top three and led over 100 laps in the last three New Hampshire races
- Won the pole finished third at New Hampshire in July
No. 18 Kyle Busch (Hot)
- Finished 15th at Chicago, broke a streak of six straight top 10 finishes
- Sat on the pole at Chicago by nearly three tenths of a second
- Loose wheel and speeding penalty then lack of cautions caused his 15th-place finish at Chicago
- Two wins this season (Pocono and Bristol)
- Two NH wins, last was summer of 2015
- Finished 12th at NH in July after leading 95 laps, speeding penalty
- Finished top 10 in seven of the last nine NH races
No. 11 Denny Hamlin (Hot, Good at NH)
- Finished fourth at Chicago, fourth straight top-five finish
- Top-five finishes in 10 of the last 13 races including two wins
- Won at NH in July, third NH win (won in a backup car due to a practice crash)
- Finished top two in nearly a third of his NH starts (7 of 23 or 30 percent)
No. 4 Kevin Harvick (Hot, good at NH)
- Finished third at Chicago, first top-five finish in the last six races, led 59 laps, his most since Texas in April
- Four fewer top fives and top 10s this year compared to last year
- Two NH wins, including this race last year, led only eight laps
- Top five finishes in five of the last six NH races including fifth in July
No. 48 Jimmie Johnson (All about the wins)
- 8th at Richmond and Chicago, only the second time this season he has scored back-to-back top 10 finishes
- Three top-five finishes this season, all wins
- Three time NH winner but last was 2010
- Has only led seven laps in the last 12 NH races
- Finished 10th at NH in July after starting second
No. 20 Matt Kenseth (sneaky Hot)
- Finished 9th at Chicago, seven top-10 finishes in the last nine races, all but Michigan, flat tire in OT while running third and an ambulance problem at Richmond
- Three NH wins, all in the last eight races
- Finished top six with two wins in the last five races including fourth in July
No. 2 Brad Keselowski (Warm, Good at NH)
- Finished sixth at Chicago, first top 10 in the last six races
- One NH win, summer 2014
- Finished top 15 in the last 12 races at NH including ninth in July
No. 42 Kyle Larson (Hot in 2017, Good at NH)
- Finished fifth at Chicago, never really a factor for the win
- Four wins in 2017, had one entering this season
- Finished second in seven races this year
- Best finish at NH in seven races is runner-up twice, including July
No. 31 Ryan Newman (Pretty good lately, not so much at NH lately)
- 23rd at Chicago, just did not run well, broke a four race top-10 streak
- Three NH wins, last coming in 2011
- Has led 722 laps at NH, but only two in the last 11 races
- Finished 27th at NH in July
- Seven top-five finishes at NH but only one in the last 12 races
No. 1 Jamie McMurray (Decent)
- 10th at Chicago, sixth straight top-15 finish
- 14 top-10 finishes this season, five more than this point last year
- Best NH finish is third in 2010
- Finished 17th at NH in July, only three top-10 finishes in the last 13 races at NH
Cup – Who is Not:
No. 21 Ryan Blaney (Not Lately)
- Finished 11th at Chicago, third straight finish outside the top 10
- Last top-five finish was his win at Pocono in June
- Nine top-10 finishes this season but none have come in back-to-back races
- Four NH starts, best finish of 11th in the summer of 2016, finished 19th in July
No. 41 Kurt Busch (Not, Mixed at NH)
- Finished 19th at Chicago, broke a streak of three straight top five finishes
- Speeding penalty at Chicago
- Three-time NH winner, last time was 2008
- Finished eighth at NH in July, only his third top-10 finish there in the last 12 races
No. 3 Austin Dillon (Has a win but is NOT HOT)
- Finished 16th at Chicago, speeding penalty
- Won on fuel mileage at Charlotte
- Only four top-10 finishes this season, had 10 at this point last year
- Only top-10 finish in seven NH races was eighth in summer of 2015
- Finished 15th at NH in July
No. 24 Chase Elliott (Starting to turn things back around)
- Finished second at Chicago, fourth career runner-up finish, but finish was encumbered for post-race inspection violation of his car
- Runner-up at Chicago is first top-five finish since Kentucky in early July, but team penalized 15 points and finish encumbered because of a penalty
- Three NH starts, best finish of 11th in July
No. 5 Kasey Kahne (Not, Not, Not)
- Finished 21st at Chicago, only one top-10 finish in the last 17 races, win at Indy
- Six DNFs accident this season
- Won at Indianapolis ending a 102-race winless streak, took a super lucky timed caution and turned it into a win
- One NH win, summer 2012 (last win by HMS there)
- Finished 28th at NH in July, it was his seventh finish outside the top 10 in the last nine NH races
No. 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr (Has two wins this season)
- 25th at Chicago , last top 10 was his win at Daytona in July
- Zero wins in first 157 starts, two wins in last 18 starts
- Two top-10 finishes in nine NH starts, best of ninth in 2014
- Finished 14th at NH in July
Others:
No. 14 Clint Bowyer (Disappointing 2017)
- Finished 13th at Chicago
- Was 88 points out of a Playoff spot
- Finished runner up three times in 2017
- 10 top 10s in 2017, had only three in all of 2016
- Two-time winner at NH, finished seventh in July
No. 22 Joey Logano (Disappointing season)
- Seventh at Chicago, finished top 10 in back-to-back races for the first time since April
- 10 finishes outside the top 20 in the last 18 races
- Won at Richmond but was encumbered after starting in the rear due to a transmission change
- First time he missed the playoffs with Team Penske
- Two-time NH winner
- Finished 37th in July after a flat tire and suspension issues
No. 77 Erik Jones (Hot, ?? at NH)
- Finished 33rd at Chicago, multiple issues, broke a streak of six straight top 10 finishes
- Finished 39th at NH in July, accident after 40 laps, it was his first Cup start there
No. 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr (Not)
- 17th at Chicago, last top 10 was Sonoma in June (sixth)
- Only two top-10s in the last 15 races
- Best NH finish is third in 2004
- Finished 18th at NH in July, it was his first start there since 2015
