posted September 15, 2006 at 10:30 EST in NASCAR Betting Trends

There will be a new Nextel Cup champion this year.

Tony Stewart, who won the 2002 Winston Cup title as well as last year’s championship, is currently in 11th place in the NASCAR drivers’ standings. And that’s as high as he can hope for now that the Chase for the Cup is on. This will be the first time in Stewart’s eight seasons on the Cup circuit that the Indiana native finishes outside the Top 10.

But that doesn’t mean Stewart is going to pack it in for the rest of the season. Far from it. One of the proudest men ever to step behind the wheel, Stewart has one thing on his mind: taking the checkered flag at this Sunday’s Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon.

He’s won there twice before, and he’s near the top of the odds list at +850 to make it three.

Stewart finds himself a full 264 points ahead of Greg Biffle in the standings, but again, that’s immaterial to the man in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevy. “I don’t really care about finishing 11th,” Stewart told reporters. “I don’t care if I finish 11th or 20th in the points now. It’s about how many wins we’re going to get these next 10 weeks.”

Ironically, now that the pressure of qualifying for the Chase is off, Stewart might be in a better position to win the Sylvania 300. Drivers already in the Top 10 before the Chase cut-off point tend to stick to a conservative race strategy, hoping to avoid the kind of disaster that can knock a driver out of the championship hunt. That’s what happened to Stewart last week – he crashed his car during the practice session for the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond, forcing Stewart to race his No. 2 car during qualifying. That led to a spot at the back of the starting grid and an eventual 18th-place result.

With the handcuffs off, Stewart has the opportunity to put on a show at a track that has been very kind to him in the past – and, on occasion, very frustrating. Stewart has raced at Loudon 15 times, picking up eight Top-5 finishes to go along with five results outside the Top 20.

Which Stewart will show up this week at Loudon? One caveat for his supporters: Stewart suggested that the non-Chase drivers, himself included, will be giving the other 10 men a little more breathing room than usual at Loudon. He still wants to win, but it’s doubtful he’ll resort to bump drafting to get the job done.