This weekend, the stars of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series head to the Magic Mile in New Hampshire for the LENOX Industrial Tools 301 for the seventeenth race of the 2009 season. The one-mile flat track is the site of the first race of the Chase each year, but it also hosts the first of ten events in what is known as the Race to the Chase.

With only ten races before the beginning of NASCAR’s version of the playoffs, those drivers hovering around the twelfth-place mark in the standings know now is the time to be on the top of your game. Kasey Kahne proved that last week by scoring the surprise win on the road course in Sonoma and moving within three points of that coveted twelfth-spot. While the 12-man Chase will not be set at the conclusion of Sunday’s race, there will be a much clearer idea as to what drivers will need to step it up if they want to be a part of the championship hunt.

Going into the weekend, Juan Pablo Montoya sits in the twelfth-spot. In what has been his most impressive season in the NASCAR ranks, the former open-wheel star has seven top-10s and one pole position thus far in 2009. While Montoya is showing his strength this year, he will need to step up his game on the flat track in New Hampshire. In four starts, the driver of the No. 42 Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet has a best finish of 17th.

Things are so close at the cut-off point that any slip up could mean the difference between remaining in contention and watching the title hunt from the outside looking in. Take the case of Jeff Burton, a poor finish in Sonoma resulted in a drop of three spots in the series standings. When the driver of the No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet started the day he was sitting in twelfth, but is now forty-six marks behind Montoya.

Veteran Mark Martin is another driver that needs to perform consistently week-in and week-out if he wants to contend for the title. Despite having three victories on the year, the driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet is only nine points ahead of Montoya in the standings. After a disappointing finish at Infineon, Martin fell to eleventh in the standings.

Even Carl Edwards, who currently sits fifth in points, cannot feel comfortable with his current position. Only 134 points separate the driver of the No. 99 Roush Fenway Racing Ford from Montoya in twelfth. While it is unlikely Edwards will fall out of the top-12 after New Hampshire, ten races is a long time. On the flip side of that equation, Brian Vickers is seventeenth in the standings and only 123 marks out of twelfth and hungry to be a part of this year’s Chase.

These next ten weeks are going to be just as intense as the final ten. With tracks like New Hampshire, Daytona, Chicagoland, Indianapolis, Pocono, Watkins Glen, Michigan, Bristol, Atlanta and Richmond in the Race to the Chase and drivers such as Edwards, Ryan Newman, Denny Hamlin, Greg Biffle, Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, Mark Martin, Montoya, Kahne, David Reutimann, Burton, Clint Bowyer and Vickers gunning to make the Chase there is no telling what can, and most likely will, happen. One thing is certain, there will be exciting racing week-in and week-out.

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