NASCAR's 10-Race Chase Opens in N.H.

LOUDON, N.H. - NASCAR's second playoff begins Sunday at New Hampshire International Speedway, where 10 drivers start a 10-race Chase for the Nextel Cup separated by 45 points at the green flag.

Tony Stewart, the season's most consistent driver since Memorial Day, leads the field into the Chase. The 2002 champion won five of the last 12 races of the regular season and arrives at Loudon — where he won in July — as the favorite.

Behind him: Greg Biffle, Jimmie Johnson and Rusty Wallace, who is running his farewell season and chasing the title that has eluded him since 1989 — a story line the sport has embraced all summer.

Defending champion Kurt Busch starts fifth, with Mark Martin — also in his last full season — Matt Kenseth, Jeremy Mayfield and Ryan Newman filling out the top 10. Notably absent: Dale Earnhardt Jr., the sport's most popular driver, who missed the cutoff by three spots and whose season has been the year's biggest disappointment.

Jeff Gordon, the four-time champion, failed to qualify for the Chase for the first time — a collapse for the team that dominated the sport for a decade — and has spent the week answering questions about what went wrong.

The Chase, introduced last year to counter the sport's late-season attention fade, worked almost too well: last year's title was decided at the final race by eight points, the closest in series history.

Critics still grumble that the format can crown a champion who had an ordinary first 26 races. Supporters point to television ratings that rose through the fall and a title fight that stayed alive to Homestead.

Loudon's flat mile oval rewards patience and track position; Chase drivers say the opener is about surviving rather than winning. "You can't win it here," Stewart said, "but you can lose it."