Since New Hampshire went down from two races each year to one annually, this race in turn has indirectly ended up being a Championship 4 preview. That’s because Loudon actually can translate well over to Phoenix.

In most year, the good cars at Loudon end up being the good cars at Phoenix. All four drivers to make the Championship 4 in 2018, 2019 and 2020 had each finished in the top 10 at New Hampshire. Furthermore, they also went 1-2 in each of those three years at the checkered flag in this race including taking three of the top four spots in two of the three years overall too.

In 2018, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr. and Joey Logano went 1-2-4-9 and led 131 of 301 laps.

In 2019, Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch finished 1-2-6-8 and led 272 of the 301 laps.

In 2020, Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and Chase Elliott combined to lead 285 of the 301 laps in New Hampshire. They finished 1-2-4-9.

 In 2021, it was 2 of 4. That’s partially because Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. were collected in that opening lap crash in the rain.

Last year, it was 3 of the 4 all in the top 8 (1st – Bell, 2nd – Elliott, 6th – Chastain, 24th – Logano).

On Monday, Martin Truex Jr. dominated in leading 254 of 301 laps en route to the victory. On like tracks this season, Truex was (17th Phoenix in the spring), 11th (Richmond), 3rd (Martinsville), 1st (Dover) and 5th (Gateway).

Also, 13 of the last 16 New Hampshire winners now are Cup champions.

I think he has to be a favorite.

Kyle Larson does too. He was third on Monday. He dominated Phoenix this spring but finished fourth. He won Richmond and Martinsville, was caught up in a crash while having a fast race car in Dover and fourth in Gateway.

Joey Logano was runner-up on Monday. This season he looks like he did in a championship winning one of a year ago. The defending series champion was 11th in Phoenix, 7th in Richmond, 2nd in Martinsville, 31st in Dover and 3rd in Gateway.

Kevin Harvick was 4th on Monday too. He was 5th (Phoenix), 5th (Richmond), 20th (Martinsville), 19th (Dover) and 10th (St. Louis).

Would you be shocked if this was your Championship 4?

The other top 10 finishers were Brad Keselowski (5th), Tyler Reddick (6th), Denny Hamlin (7th), Bubba Wallace (8th), Austin Dillon (9th) and Chase Briscoe (10th).

Among them, Keselowski and Wallace are each a nice story but I don’t see a final round march out of them yet. Dillon and Briscoe seem like longer shots.

Which makes this even more legitimate because you have Truex, Logano, Larson and Harvick as easy standouts.

Reddick (3rd in Phoenix this spring, 6th in Loudon) and Hamlin (3 Championship 4’s in the last 4 years) are easy targets to get to the Championship 4 too.