Picturesque New England could turn ugly for some

New Hampshire should be beautiful this time of year. The mountains are nearby. The lakes are there. I'm sure the weather will be perfect. All the elements of a wonderful weekend to begin the month of July. And it looks like July will be a scorcher, on the track that is.

The stars of the Nextel Cup Series won't get much of a chance to enjoy the New Hampshire scenery; the only view most of them will have will be the walk from the motor coach to the garage and back on a busy weekend at New Hampshire International Speedway. Of course, come Sunday, one driver will have the best view in all of New England, the one from Victory Lane.

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After the last five races, I find it exciting to think the series has welcomed three new drivers into the winner's circle. And I believe we could see another first-time winner this week. I will add that Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson will be on a mission to win and show that they can (and will) be competitive without their regular crew chiefs at the track. It seems that whenever the Hendrick boys get themselves in a Paris Hilton-type dust-up, they rally together and show their strength and classy style. Well, we'll see.

Each week there are many factors that play into the winning formula. We certainly saw that at Sonoma last week. (Watch's Weber's CNN Podcast recap) Some of those factors will play out at New Hampshire for two reasons; it's a "short" race and it can be very difficult to pass with 43 cars on a 1-mile track, but the passing has improved in recent years because of modifications to the racing surface.

Fuel mileage could be a factor, again. We saw it last week. We have seen it here in the past. At Sonoma we were reminded that the crew does not always know for certain if the driver has enough fuel to reach the finish. And, of course, sometimes the crew chief does not always tell a pit reporter everything they know.

The public relations people for Jamie McMurray told our NASCAR on TNT pit reporters that Jamie wasn't ready to talk after the race. That's too bad. Jamie won the pole and was ready to talk then. He drove a terrific race but when he ran out of gas at the end, he wasn't ready to talk to them. Out of fuel, full of frustration.

"Last weekend in Sonoma was tough for the whole No. 26 team," McMurray said through a press release this week.

"I hate that we had to run that well the entire race and then finish like we did. It's one of those deals where you take the gamble and hope for the best. The gamble didn't pay off for us in the end. Hopefully, this weekend we can put ourselves in a better position, where it isn't such a gamble at the end."

It has been 163 races since Jamie McMurray won at Charlotte in just his second career start. Oops, better make that 164 after Sonoma. Can you imagine the roller-coaster ride of emotions he must have gone through in the closing laps of that race? And then to have it finish like that? Interviewing Jamie at that point would have been like running onto a baseball field and interviewing the player that just got thrown out at home plate in the bottom of the ninth to end the game. You'll never see that in Major League Baseball. But we have come to expect it in major-league racing.

I can't wait to talk to Jamie McMurray this week at Loudon. He is sincere, funny, and is one of the most honest drivers in the garage. In the past he has told me why he thinks things are not going well and what the team is doing to improve. The team was scheduled to test in Milwaukee before heading to New Hampshire and McMurray sounds optimistic about this week.

"I'm looking forward to another run this weekend in Loudon," McMurray said.

"Last year we just weren't very good up there, but I think with the new car we are taking, it should be a pretty good weekend for us. So far this season we've done pretty well with the COT and especially in qualifying. [Crew chief] Larry [Carter] has done a great job with learning the aspects of this new car and making it work for me."

All the guys say they are looking forward to going to Loudon; not all of them are telling the truth. This track has frustrated many drivers since the day it opened; others can't wait to come rolling through the gate.

"I enjoy running at New Hampshire. The track has been kind to me in the past," said Kurt Busch, a two-time New Hampshire winner who is trying to get back into the Chase picture.

"With the run we do need to make, it's a good place to get started. We just need to find little things here and there every week that have hampered our progress.

"It's been an interesting season thus far. We've had some great success. Almost won a race at Texas, Phoenix, Daytona, led the most laps at Charlotte. So good things all around, but we just need to start putting exclamation points at the end of these races so we can come home in the top five and gather the points that we think we deserve."

That's the difference between racing against the "Chasers" and just being in a race with them, the "almost" factor. "Almost" in racing is like the "almost" in life; for example, "I almost made my flight." Sounds good but in reality it means I missed my flight and I'm stuck sitting around a dingy airport waiting for the next plane, or in racing, the next race.

"I like New Hampshire; it's one of my favorite tracks," Carl Edwards said. "It's flat and fast and it puts a lot of things in the driver's hands. Unfortunately we didn't have the best finish last weekend at Sonoma [18th], so it will be really important for us to run well at Loudon. We had a really strong run there last year in the summer, so hopefully we'll be able to repeat that success."

This past July, Edwards almost got to make the trip to Victory Lane, but he finished second. That is his only top-10 finish in five races at New Hampshire.

Tony Stewart finished 37th at New Hampshire this past July, but he almost won this past September, finishing second to Kevin Harvick in the first Chase race of the 2006 season. He has finished second or better in three of the past four races at New Hampshire. What's the magic to getting around the "Magic Mile"?

"It's a big motor deal," said Stewart, another two-time winner at New Hampshire.

"With the corners being so tight, you've got to put a lot of gear in the car to get it up off the corner. Forward bite is always an issue there, too -- trying to get the car to go forward. So, it's hard to get up off the corners. Then you've got long straightaways where you can kind of relax a little bit. Coming into the corners, you use a lot of brake, and it's hard to not only get the car stopped, but to get it to turn. Then you go through that challenge all over again."

And again, and again, and again.

I have always felt that as a fan, New Hampshire is a good place to root hard for your favorite driver but always have a T-shirt or cap of your next favorite guy with you. Some days you "hit it" at New Hampshire and others you well, almost "hit it".

"If you miss on something it can be a miserable day," Stewart said.

"It seems like you don't see but three or four guys during the day that really hit it. That's what makes a day there miserable when you miss. It's just a matter of keeping a well-balanced car all day. And it seems like you can have bad track position, but if you have a car that drives well, you can drive your way to the front. It's not a situation you cringe at if you have a good driving car."

Greg Biffle finished fifth at Sonoma. That's his first top-five finish since Bristol, 10 races ago if you're counting, and ties his best finish of the year, which was fifth at Bristol. He finished 14th at New Hampshire this past September but in the three races there prior, "The Biff" had three consecutive top-five finishes. Nice.

"I always enjoy racing at New Hampshire," Biffle said.

Enjoys it. What did I tell you?

"It's a flat track and those are always fun for a driver because it requires a lot of throttle and brake input. The keys to New Hampshire are getting the car to rotate in the corner and have lots of forward bite exiting. If you can hit both of those things with the setup then it's generally a good day. This will be our first race with Aflac on the car and it would be cool to get the duck up front on its debut."

Yeah, watch out for the duck. I don't think we've ever had a duck in a race before. Well, maybe Daffy Duck was in one of those Richmond races. There might have been an Anaheim Duck in a race at Fontana. You know, I think I recall the Oregon Ducks in a race a couple of years ago. Just goes to show, you can see almost anything at a Nextel Cup race.

Almost.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.