LOUDON, N.H. -- So far this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, it is Brad Keselowski's world and everybody else is just living in it. The 2012 Sprint Cup champion is coming off two race wins at Richmond and Chicagoland, he was the fastest in the first practice here, won the pole later on Friday and then was the fastest driver in the first practice Saturday. He finished second to Jeff Gordon in Happy Hour, the final practice Saturday. But it's clear he has what he needs to win. How far can this roll go? Into Dover next week certainly seems like a good answer. "This kind of track is kind of right in my wheelhouse, right in our team's wheelhouse," Keselowski said Friday after qualifying. "We had this race circled before the Chase started, and we felt decent about Chicago, but really felt like this was a race of emphasis for us to get a win and get out of the first bracket [of the Chase]. "With last week considered, it's even a stronger position for us to be pushing hard. It's good. We just want to keep it going." But winning Sunday's Sylvania 300 (2 p.m. ET, ESPN and WatchESPN) takes more than a good buildup and a good pit stall. New Hampshire does often favor a dominant car on any given race weekend, but for the past 13 race weekends here, a different driver has won the race. If Keselowski can win Sunday, he'll reset the no-repeat-winners clock here to zero. The current streak of 13 was started by Kurt Busch in the first race of 2008. The streak is tied for the longest in Cup history with Texas Motor Speedway's from 1998-2007. But even success here doesn't guarantee anything in the following rounds of NASCAR's new playoffs. Keselowski is already through to the Contender Round in two weeks when the points for the surviving 12 drivers reset to dead even for the ensuing round. Those eight drivers who make the Eliminator Round beginning at Martinsville will see the points reset to even again. And then the final four drivers alive after Phoenix will be even for the finale at Homestead. So no matter how hot you are now, it may be for naught in a only a few weeks. "It's positive momentum and everything you want to do and think you should do, but when it resets, it resets, and nothing that you've done in the past really matters as long as you're eligible for the bracket," Keselowski said. "I'm a long, long ways from using the word 'favorite' or feeling overly confident." Six-time and defending champion Jimmie Johnson said he's concentrating on his own business and not Keselowski's, but admits Keselowski is going to be tough to beat. "The No. 2 car has been fast all year long," Johnson said. "He was amazing fast here the first race [this year]. "I don't know. I don't think anybody has anything for Brad. It's pretty amazing how fast he is right now at pretty much every race track we go to. Hopefully we are the guys that can stop him this weekend, but it will be really tough." If Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus have anything to stop Keselowski, it wasn't apparent here at the July race. Johnson crashed and finished 42nd after completing just 11 laps. So what's the plan for Johnson? "Well, to go further than the 10 or 12 laps we ran," he said with a laugh on Friday. "That was a bummer of a day, for sure. It hurts us more than anything when we don't know what that setup did. So, we'll work through that race practice stuff tomorrow and expand on that. So much has changed since July, especially for us, just trying to find speed and work in the right areas, that we'll have two or three major changes to throw at the car [Saturday] and then see which one shows the most speed." It all still comes down to who can find the right combination on Sunday, and there are 15 drivers in the Chase not named Brad Keselowski who would like to breathe a little easier for the next few weeks until Talladega looms and the cutoff to eight drivers occurs. "What's different now is that you've just got to make it through to the next round, right? Somebody could win all three of these first races, and as long as you go through the next round, it's looking at different tracks that, as you get closer and closer to Homestead, that's where you've got to perform," Gordon said. "And then if you make it to Homestead, it doesn't matter if somebody won the first nine races in the Chase. "If you beat them in that final one, you win the championship. But you've got to be there, and it's not going to be easy to be there. And I'm excited about our chances; I'll be honest. "I think that we might let some other guys steal the thunder here early on, but I think that when it really comes down to it, I think our team has the ability to take the championship."
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