LOUDON, N.H. -- Penske Racing crew chief Steve Addington just laughed when asked the question Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, on the eve of his first Chase start with Kurt Busch.

"I don't know that there's any sleepers -- I know there are 12 great race teams in this deal," Addington said of guiding Busch in their first season together into his fifth Chase in seven attempts. "I think that it's wide open and you've got a lot of good teams so that if a guy hits on something or gets on a roll -- and anybody can do that -- and I kind of think that that's what we're going to have."

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The first three races, I just kind of group them together and hopefully we finish in front of half of the Chase field and find ourselves in good position. But if a guy goes out and wins these first three [races], you have to change your game plan because you have to keep up or you're going to get left behind.

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-- KURT BUSCH

The only reason Busch is even included as a possibility, is because he was 14th in the standings after seven races, including a win at Atlanta, before he rolled up to fourth, winning in the process again at Michigan in June.

Since then, the iron seems to have cooled and Busch fell as far back as 10th after a 40th in the second Michigan race. Busch comes into New Hampshire up to fifth in the Chase standings after they were re-seeded, and at least one contender didn't consider him a true sleeper.

"The way I look at it is, I feel like there are 12 guys that can win it," Jeff Gordon said, agreeing with Addington. "Anybody can get on a streak. I feel like all of these teams are solid, good teams -- good drivers. I don't really see a sleeper.

"I feel like us, [Clint] Bowyer, [Jeff] Burton -- any of the guys that haven't won races yet to this point, I guess, if you were going to consider anybody a sleeper, I would think that the media would think that these guys aren't really going to be the ones to beat."

And Busch's stats probably wouldn't allow him to be considered a sleeper, either, as he's the equal in poles to everyone else in the Chase with two.

Busch has two wins and his eight top-five and 15 top-10 finishes have him close to the league leaders in the latter two categories. Addington said they're planning to pick up more.

"I think we could surprise people," he said. "I definitely think the race team's capable of it. We're working on some good things now and bringing better race cars to the race track than what we've had the last few weeks -- brand-new cars, lighter cars -- and I think we have some tools in the toolbox that we haven't had before, that we're going to be able to work with and make gains on it.

"We're not that far off with the old stuff, so I think some of the new stuff is going to bring us to that next step."

Given Busch's history at New Hampshire, where he's won three times -- the most recent in June 2008 -- he won't be able to sneak up on anyone here, even after qualifying 12th.

"You can't sneak under the radar because if you keep on doing good, then you're going to be one of the favorites and running down to the end of the Chase," Busch said, particularly looking at New Hampshire. "You have to look at tracks that you're good on and that you feel confident on and make the best effort and get a good solid finish. If you don't do good on a track you know you can do good on, then it's a tougher row to hoe. After Week 3 you're going to see what's up.

"Sleepers will be in it by Week 3 or 4, so they're going to be relevant to everybody for six weeks," Busch said. "I was a sleeper in '04 [his Cup championship season], but I was leading after the fourth race. I would give Bowyer the sleeper card and he's going to exceed expectations in this Chase, if I had to put my hand on somebody."

NASCAR had Busch's team firmly on its radar screen by the end of Friday, as it announced they were "double-checking the tire inventories of the 2 and 64 to make sure they didn't exchange a set of scuffed tires for a set of slicks," NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp said. "We'll react [Saturday] if we need to."

Busch, who's one of nine Chase teams reportedly using new chassis this weekend, said he had plenty to keep his mind on.

"You can't focus too closely on one guy per week -- I think that you have to look at a group of guys over a few weeks' time," Busch said. "I look at the Chase as being broken into three, six, nine [races] and then you have the final Homestead race. If you're in position at Homestead, that's when everything is crazy.

"The first three races, I just kind of group them together and hopefully we finish in front of half of the Chase field and find ourselves in good position. But if a guy goes out and wins these first three [races], you have to change your game plan because you have to keep up or you're going to get left behind."

The bottom line is, Busch knows how championships can be affected at this opening venue.

"I won [the championship] in '04 by winning this race," Busch said. "I lost it in '05 by being taken out on the third lap -- I was dumped by a non-Chase guy and I finished 40th. That whole Chase, we were digging out of a hole and when you dig out of a hole, you stretch yourself thin, gamble on a pit stop when you're not supposed to. We got impatient. It's easy to get impatient when you're behind."

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• Busch may be penalized for extra tires in practice