Old New Hampshire

June 25, 2008 9:00pm CDT

The fantasy world will see a paradox since owners will have both more and fewer options this week.

For the past three weeks, the Nationwide series has been at a different track than Cup. That has made for fewer Claim Jumpers on Saturdays. While the "big guns" were focusing on the senior circuit, it left things open to the mostly unsung Nationwide Regulars. With some of the Claim Jumpers returning to the Nationwide Series this weekend, it will leave at least one dependable option on the shelf, Joey Logano—and this probably the only time this year you will see him in red.

Logano left fantasy owners drooling after his first four races on the tour. The teenager hopped into the No. 20 Toyota and won in just his third start as well as earning a second and a sixth. The best part was he came at the low, low price of less than $400,000. This week, fantasy owners will not find him on the entry list. Instead he will be replaced with the pricier Tony Stewart. There is always a silver lining in the Joe Gibbs Racing camp.

Claim Jumpers

Fantasy owners may want to see Logano for another week, but they should not fret too much about having Stewart behind the wheel. "Smoke" has been amazing in his limited Nationwide series starts this year. So far, he has entered six races on the junior circuit and won four times. Only once has he not finished in the top-10. In 2007, he started just one Nationwide race on a flat track, which happened to be in New Hampshire. That day, he finished a strong fourth.

Things haven't gone Kevin Harvick's way in his most recent Nationwide starts. He was second at Richmond International Raceway in May, but he failed to earn a single top-10 in the next three races. After taking the last three weeks off to focus on his Sprint Cup career, he hops back into the No. 33 Chevrolet this week. He picked a good place to return. In his seven Nationwide starts there since 2000, he has five top-fives and six top-10s with a low of 18th. Driving the No. 21 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, he won this event last year, so there is no doubt that he can handle Loudon even after a three-week hiatus.

Carl Edwards is coming off his first win of the season last week at the Milwaukee Mile. What he needs now is to keep that momentum going so he can catch Clint Bowyer in the points' standings. New Hampshire will do the trick. Edwards has been tough on the flat tracks for the past year. Counting Milwaukee, he has a win, five top-fives and eight top-10s in the past nine races on the low-banked speedways. Specifically at New Hampshire, he has a win and two runner-up finishes in his three career starts there.

Nationwide Regulars

With that pesky Logano out of the way, Brad Keselowski has an opportunity to shine. He has never been to New Hampshire in Nationwide competition, but he has shown that he has the talent to get the job done. Over the last five flat track events, he has earned three top-10s and four top-20s with a low of 21st. As for momentum, his couldn't be much better. He has a win, three top-fives and five consecutive top-10s heading into Loudon. Claim Jumpers or not, he will find his way to the front of the field this weekend.

With Jeff Burton keeping his focus on the Sprint Cup series, Scott Wimmer will get to hang onto the car keys for another week. That is good news for fantasy owners. For starters, he has been on a blistering pace this year, having won the first race of the year at Nashville Superspeedway and earning six more top-10s and nothing lower than 18th in 10 starts in the No. 29 Chevrolet. Plus he has finished in the top-five three times and in the top-10 six times in his last seven flat track starts.

The last time Jason Leffler went to victory lane was on the flat O'Reilly Raceway Park in July 2007. Not that it was a surprise that he would win on a flat track. For more than a year now, he has earned nothing but top-20s, with his win, three other top-fives and two additional top-10s thrown in for good measure. Just last week, he went home a respectable 10th in Milwaukee, but fantasy owners can expect more from him this weekend. That 10th snapped a four-race drought without a top-10, and he will not want to lose that momentum just yet.

Power Rankings for this track
(known, expected entrants)