LOUDON, N.H. --- All 12 drivers in the Chase for the Championship have studied how the playoffs unfolded in the past five years, looking for trends that might help them during today's Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Some have calculated average finishes needed in the next 10 races to win the championship.

Others have concentrated on conservative plans to avoid trouble early to be in contention for the last five races. And a few have a simple strategy to race as hard as possible.

NASCAR's second season starts today (2 p.m., ABC-Ch. 6) with reshuffled point standings -- Mark Martin leads Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson by just 10 points.

The separation between first and 12th is a mere 40 points.

And unlike seasons past, nobody seems to be the clear favorite. Johnson has won the past three championships, but he's the first admit his No. 48 Chevrolet team might not be as dominant.

"Even if we were on a run of good finishes it doesn't guarantee that you are going to get off to a good start and you really have to look at each day and focus on that day and do what you can," he said. "Past experience doesn't mean anything at that point."

Johnson has three wins during the regular season, but he's only gained the seventh-most points in the 10 races heading into the playoffs.

The hottest driver coming into the playoffs is Denny Hamlin. In the 10 races leading up to the Chase, he had one victory and the most points of all drivers.He believes the champion will need to win at least two races in the playoffs and maintain a top-10 average.

Brian Vickers has been the second-hottest driver in the past 10 races.

"If you finish second for 10 races in a row," Vickers said. "I guarantee you you're going to win the championship. Or if you finish fifth for 10 races in a row, you're going to win the championship.

"As far as being a dark horse, I guess it depends on how you define dark horse. Are the dark horses the teams that are running probably the worst right now? Who's performed in the last 10, 15 races? Are those teams the dark horses? If we can keep that momentum and continue with it, we've just got to do it one more time (10 races)."

Juan Pablo Montoya, who has gained the fourth-most points in the past three months, will start from the pole.

Tony Stewart, who has led the standings for more than half the regular season, is on the outside pole.

Reach Don Coble at don.coble@morris.com.