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BUSCH: Loudon: Round 18 preview

* 20 Races, 20 Different Winners At New Hampshire * Loop Data: Reigning Champion Harvick Back At NHIS No Double-Dipping: History Says Edwards Is A Longshot To Repeat At NHIS DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (June 26, 2007) -- "The Magic Mile" was just that ...

Edited: Apr 16, 2008, 12:40 AM

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* 20 Races, 20 Different Winners At New Hampshire
* Loop Data: Reigning Champion Harvick Back At NHIS

No Double-Dipping: History Says Edwards Is A Longshot To Repeat At NHIS

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (June 26, 2007) -- "The Magic Mile" was just that last year for Carl Edwards. Edwards won last year's NASCAR Busch Series race at New Hampshire International Speedway's 1.058-mile oval, the third of his four 2006 victories that propelled him to a final finish of second in the series standings.

Coming into Saturday's Camping World 200 presented by RVs.com, Edwards -- the current series point leader -- is an obvious favorite, again.

History is not on Edwards' side, however. History at NHIS is apparently immune to things like point standings and past victories: In 20 previous NASCAR Busch Series races at NHIS, there have been 20 different winners -- and, to boot, 17 different Busch Pole winners.

Edwards heads to New England with four wins, 11 top fives, and 14 top 10s this season. He's posted finishes of second and first, respectively, over the past two years at New Hampshire International Speedway.

Edwards isn't the only driver with a chance to erase the 20-race no-repeat streak as three others will also have the opportunity to be the first.

Matt Kenseth (No. 17 Fenway Sports Group Ford), Edwards' Roush Fenway Racing teammate, has posted three top-10 finishes at the track including his win in 2004.

Bobby Hamilton Jr. (No. 35 McDonald's Ford) will also be going for his second win at New Hampshire. He has four top 10s including his win in 2002.

Jason Keller (No. 11 CJM Racing Chevrolet) has the most experience of the four drivers going for the repeat. In 14 starts at New Hampshire, Keller has five top-10 finishes including his victory in 2001.

Mood Swing: Despite Recent Rise, Ambrose Hardly Satisfied

Marcos Ambrose (No. 59 Kingsford Ford) is nicknamed the "Devil Racer" due to his Tasmanian heritage.

Lately, the NASCAR Busch Series rookie is showing some of that nickname in his attitude despite a solid seventh-place ranking in the point standings, a second-place showing in the Raybestos Rookie rankings and three top-15 finishes in his last four races including a career-best sixth at Dover International Speedway earlier this month.

Ambrose, in his second season racing in NASCAR's national series after winning consecutive V8 Supercar titles in Australia in 2003-04, isn't content with his finishes and voiced his opinion following his finish last week at The Milwaukee Mile. "Six months ago I would have been happy with a 15th-place finish, but today I'm not," he said.

Ambrose has some experience at New Hampshire where he finished 23rd last year in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competition.

In The Loop: Reigning Series Champ Harvick Driver To Beat Despite Layoff

Defending NASCAR Busch Series champion Kevin Harvick returns to the No. 21 AutoZone Chevrolet this weekend at New Hampshire International Speedway.

If there's any rust from being away from the NASCAR Busch Series for the past three races, it probably won't show. Harvick has past success to call upon -- lots of it. He's won three Busch Poles at New Hampshire and hasn't finished outside the top 10 since his first series start at the track in 2001.

Since then, he's had four top fives, including three runner-up finishes. Over the past two years -- which were finishes of eighth and second -- Harvick has put up some of the top numbers in the series.

He has the top Average Driver Rating at 127.7, the second-best Average Running Position (3.701), the second-highest total of Fastest Laps Run (46) and is one of only two drivers who have run each of their laps in the top 15. Denny Hamlin (No. 20 Rockwell Automation Chevrolet) is the other.

Hamlin, who teamed with Aric Almirola to win last weekend at The Milwaukee Mile, is another driver to watch at New Hampshire. He's finished third in both of his NHIS races and posted impressive stats in the process.

Hamlin has the second-best Driver Rating at 123.3 and the top Average Running Position at 3.517.

Last year's winner, Carl Edwards, has also excelled at New Hampshire. He has a Driver Rating of 118.8 and an Average Running Position of sixth.

However, Edwards comes to The Magic Mile in a mini-slump -- for him, anyway -- having finished a season-worst 33rd at Kentucky then eighth at Milwaukee. Those consecutive finishes are the "worst" for Edwards since he was 10th and 13th, respectively at Richmond International Raceway and Talladega Superspeedway.

-credit: nascar

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