Photo – Tom Pennington/Getty Images
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series makes a trip to the 1.058 mile New Hampshire Motor Speedway this weekend.
Several drivers are still looking for their first win of 2014. Aric Almirola was one of those, until winning Sunday’s rain-shortened race at Daytona and winning on the 30th anniversary of Richard Petty’s 200th career win.
Almirola became the 11th different winner on the season as five more spots are open in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Both Loudon Cup winners last year, Brian Vickers in July and Matt Kenseth in September, have yet to win in 2014.
Vickers finished second in last weekend’s race at Daytona and will look to make it one spot better this weekend at Loudon.
Kenseth is higher up in points than Vickers and could make it into the Chase without a win.
Ryan Newman is another driver who can use a win this weekend. The Indiana driver has three Cup wins at the Magic Mile and has shown signs of speed the last few weeks.
He wheeled his No. 31 Chevrolet to a third-place finish at Kentucky and was in a wreck at Daytona.
Newman and Kenseth both sit inside the top-ten in points and their first win of 2014 is potentially right around the corner.
Kyle Busch looks to improve at Loudon this weekend after being upside down at Daytona. The Nevada driver finished runner-up in both Cup races at Loudon last year.
Toyota has won the last three races at Loudon. The last non-Toyota driver to win there was Kasey Kahne in July 2012.
Kahne is another driver looking for a win. His No. 5 team hasn’t showed much speed this season, but can have a break-out run on Sunday and maybe a trip to victory lane.
Kahne’s teammate Jeff Gordon hasn’t visited victory lane at New Hampshire Motor Speedway since August 1998. A win for Gordon can improve his Chase seeding and join other drivers with two wins.
Tony Stewart came close to winning the July race in 2013, but ran out of fuel on a green-white-checkered finish and ended his chances at winning it. Stewart has gone winless in 2014 and hasn’t won since Dover in May 2013.
His Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kurt Busch dominated last year’s Camping World RV Sales 301 before being caught up in a late-race wreck with Ryan Newman. Like Gordon, a second win for Busch can help with the confidence in his race team.
The green flag for the Camping World RV Sales 301 will drop at 1 p.m. and will also be TNT’s last Sprint Cup Series broadcast of the current NASCAR TV deal.