LOUDON, N.H. — Sitting at the top of the NASCAR Sprint Cup points standings, with four wins under his belt, including back-to-back the last two weeks, it’d be fair to assume Brad Keselowski would have room to experiment with a few things.
The crew for the No. 2 Ford is itching to test some ideas.
“The team’s like, ‘Yeah, now that we’ve got four wins let’s put that part in we thought would break but we’re not sure,’ ’’ Keselowski said. “And, ‘Let’s call that crazy pit strategy we don’t know.’ ’’
But behind the wheel, with just eight races left before the Chase, it’s different.
“As I driver, it’s like, ‘Now I’ve got four wins, just make sure I don’t [tick] anyone off before the Chase starts,’’ Keselowski joked.
Going into the New Hampshire 301 on Sunday, Keselowski may have room to work with, but with a history of success at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, he already knows what works.
Keselowski’s has finished in the top 10 in eight of his 13 starts in New Hampshire. He took home the checkered flag two years ago in the Camping World RV Sales 300 at NHMS. Sunday’s race is important, Keselowski said, not only because he can continue the tear he’s been on, but because running well in New Hampshire typically bodes well for when he returns in September during the thick of the Chase.
“You look at this track, Loudon specifically, and I don’t know if there’s another track in the Chase that races back-to-back so quickly in such a short time span, and that means generally what works here in the first race carries over to the second race because the car specs and development cycle is relatively close,’’ Keselowski said.
Pole-sitter Jimmie Johnson agreed. In 29 trips to NHMS, the six-time Sprint Cup champion had never won a pole until Friday. But he’s been to the winner’s circle here three times, finished in the Top five 10 times, and the Top 10 19 times.
“Whenever we’re at Chase tracks, we’re always aware of that and hope to have a good first trip and hope to come back for an even better second trip,’’ Johnson said.
The NHMS experience will be a different kind of test for Alex Bowman, who will be behind the wheel of the No. 88 Toyota with Dale Earnhardt Jr. out with a concussion. With just four career starts in Loudon, the 23-year-old’s experience is limited, but he’s embracing the opportunity to fill in.
“It’s definitely not the circumstances that I want to get an opportunity like this,’’ Bowman said. “Obviously I’m hoping Dale feels better, but at the same time it’s the best opportunity I’ve ever had in my life. I’m ready to just plug into their program and do my job. I’ll give them the best feedback I can and go from there. I’m really confident in the whole team. Obviously they bring great racecars to the track every weekend, so if I just do my job I feel like we would be good to plug into it.’’
“The Magic Mile’’ has a reputation for making passing miserable on drivers. Kyle Busch, who will start outside of Johnson on Sunday, said it’s similar to another merciless short track.
“This place is kind of its own animal,’’ said Busch. “It kind of reminds you a little bit of Martinsville, but it doesn’t even drive near as the same as Martinsville. So this place is definitely pretty tricky as far as being able to figure out what the right balance of speed is and what the right balance of grip is. You can be really fast here and be really loose and you can try to calm that down and get some comfort built into the car for you, so you can just steer it to the left and not have to worry about counter-steer it to the right and then you’re slow. So a lot of things go into what you’d want to feel as a driver around this place.’’
Even for drivers who’ve had success, NHMS is a unique puzzle. Joey Logano has won twice in Loudon, the first time in 2009 when he was just 19. He took the checkered flag again in 2014 at the Sylvania 300, validating what some considered a one-off win. But Logano, a Connecticut native, said those victories are bigger to him than any others.
“It took me a very long time to understand how to go fast around this place and to kind of conquer your toughest racetrack, which happens to be your home racetrack, was a very special day,’’ he said.
The Chase is still two months away, but Sunday’s race will be a sort of measuring stick.
“I think it’s a good indicator for sure, and it’s an important race for us to run well being that it is in the Chase when we come back,’’ Keselowski said. “So I think we put a lot of emphasis on this race, as do all the Chase-eligible teams right now.’’
Julian Benbow can be reached at jbenbow@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @julianbenbow.
