LOUDON, N.H. -- Clint Bowyer might not have been fastest on every one of the 93 laps he ran in the three practices held this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway -- but he ended each of them at the top of the time sheet.

That puts a lot of spring into Bowyer's step as he tries to defend his victory in Sunday's Sylvania 300, the kickoff event of the fifth annual Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Two-time defending Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson has been Bowyer's practice nemesis for two days. Bowyer's No. 07 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet was .027 seconds clear of Johnson's No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports car in Friday's lone practice.

On Saturday, Bowyer was .115 seconds ahead of Johnson in the opening practice and in Happy Hour, Bowyer was .012 seconds better than last July's New Hampshire winner Denny Hamlin, with Johnson fifth.

"And we drew No. 1 to qualify, so that's just been our number this weekend," Bowyer's crew chief Gil Martin said with a laugh. "But we've had a lot of weekends where we drew No. 32, too."

That was Bowyer's shame throughout the summer, as he and his team got a little off track, failed to lead a lap since May and fell out of the top-12 teams that were qualified for the Chase. But they rebounded with a stout 12th-place finish at Richmond to solidly make the Chase, in which they're seeded fifth.

In two days of practice, two of Bowyer's prime Chase competitors -- top seed Kyle Busch and No. 2 seed Carl Edwards -- were varying degrees of out to lunch. And former New Hampshire winner Kevin Harvick -- next to Johnson the hottest driver coming into the Chase -- was mediocre at best.

Does that make Bowyer and his team overconfident? Not a chance.

"I think it's a case of where, when it comes to be race time -- when the money's on the line -- the 18 [Busch], the 99 [Edwards], the 20 [Tony Stewart] and the 24 [Jeff Gordon] are all going to be right there," Martin said. "So that's why I'm saying, it's not that we've got them over a barrel by any means because when they drop the rag [green flag] to go for the money, those guys will be there."

Bowyer agreed but said it was good to be back in a comfort zone he had earlier this season, when he raced up to fourth in the standings.

"I just think you've got to get comfortable, to start having that smile on your face and get that confidence back, get that swagger back," Bowyer said. "That's what this team's been missing. We've been at each other's throat, we've been struggling, we've been testing and we've been working hard and the results haven't been showing."

But it's a fact that Bowyer, who ran a moderate number of laps overall compared to the rest of the field, has been good no matter the conditions, which were cool and overcast for the single practice held Friday and hot and slick for two sessions on Saturday.

"It's been an exceptionally good weekend for us," Martin said. "I don't know what makes these weekends come about other than the fact that there's a lot of pressure off of the driver this week and he can go out there and just run the racecar -- because it's not like we're doing anything different this week."

Bowyer heaved a big sigh and agreed the opportunity to momentarily reset for the Chase and then get into 10 strenuous weeks of racing was a good thing.

"Without a doubt being able to relax helps you go faster and starting over is just a breath of fresh air," Bowyer said. "There's so much pressure getting into the Chase. We were struggling on the big tracks and there were several of them right in a row as we were trying to get in.

"We ran bad and got behind and got to panicking and got at each other's throats and things start tumbling downhill fast. Making the Chase was a huge, huge breath of fresh air from all that struggling."

Martin said he was surprised the setup in this car, which is the same Chevrolet Bowyer used to lead 222 of 300 laps here a year ago, was so close to the same as they employed in 2007.

"In the [summer] a lot of that setup wouldn't work, and we just came back with it this time and it's all fallen into place," Martin said. "So it's a little surprising how close we are.

"We've obviously got a pretty good car and a pretty good setup for here, but it's gone well. To get to the top of the board like that in the practices has got a lot to do with where you get out [on the track] and if you've got an open spot and you're not getting too tight, because there are several cars that can run a lap good enough to be on top of the board. But the car's pretty consistent and he's happy with it, so that's about all you can ask for."

Bowyer was pleased with his machine.

"We definitely have the speed, but obviously speed's not everything when it comes to race time," Bowyer said. "We've got to get it fast for the long run but I think we're real close. I think we're within some air pressure adjustments to getting a long run in."

June's race at New Hampshire resulted in a 22nd-place finish when the race was rain-shortened, but Bowyer was attempting to get into the top five when Martin said he was run into the wall by a lapped car with few laps remaining.

"These [new cars] are so hard to work on," Martin said. "Because when they're bad they're hard to fix, but when they're good you're afraid to touch them. We've made some air-pressure adjustments and changed the right-rear spring back and forth. But when it comes to big adjustments, these things are so finicky you're scared to touch them."

Bowyer said that after he spent almost half his race at Richmond battling back after getting boxed-in on pit road, that he had no great concerns about the pit road at NHMS.

"You've got to be careful [on pit road] everywhere, but it's not all that bad here," Bowyer said. "You've got some room and the stalls are fairly long and that's the biggest thing. As long as the stalls are a decent length it seems like you can get in and out of them OK. But we've got the second pit stall and [Busch] is right in front of us so hopefully we'll have to go around him all day."

And after that, Bowyer is confident regarding the races that follow New Hampshire, next weekend at Dover and the following weekend at Kansas Speedway.

"These are three great racetracks right in a row for us," Bowyer said. "We always seem to run well at New Hampshire, we always seem to run well at Dover -- so this is not a surprise to me. When we get to Kansas, obviously we run well there. We had been struggling on those [intermediate] type of racetracks, but we really hit on something at California that we think will be good at Kansas so I'm looking forward to it. In this Chase, it's time to pull out all the stops.

"It seems like everyone just loses their minds come Chase time. We know we have to pick up our game and coming into New Hampshire and being fast -- being on top of the board and getting our confidence behind us is a huge part of that. That's another good thing about coming into the Chase. You're focusing so hard on winning the championship that you don't have time for anything else. You don't have time for distractions, so I like this time. You can't stay this [intense] forever, but for 10 races, I can stay like this."