NASCAR will go the extra mile this weekend as teams travel across the country to New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon for the LENOX Industrial Tools 301, televised by TNT on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. with the green flag set to wave at 2:16 p.m.

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Quitting the Craftsmen Truck Series paid immediate dividends for Kyle Busch, who won his first road race last week at Sonoma after starting 30th on the grid. Busch increased his points lead over Jeff Burton to 103 points with his fifth win of the season and his ninth of his career. With his win at Infineon Busch has now won on every kind of course on the Sprint Cup circuit; super speedway, short-track, intermediate, and road. It appears that nothing will keep Busch from winning not only Sprint Cup but also the Nationwide series as well.

Who will win the LENOX Industrial Tools 301?

Don't look now but creeping up the standings and slowly improving with each race is two-time defending Sprint Cup champion, the driver of the No. 48 car, Jimmie Johnson. While he hasn't done much since winning the Subway 500 back in April he has stayed on course and managed to remain in fifth place, 326 points behind Busch. Johnson actually led last week before the caution early on in the race and then succumbed to Busch and was never able to rally. He started the race in second place and finished 15th. It has been a long-time (five years) since Johnson won back-to-back races at NHMS but the drought could end on Sunday.

Joe Gibbs Racing, however, certainly has an excellent stable of drivers this year and will look to put another driver in the winner's circle whether it be Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart or Denny Hamlin. While defending race champion Hamlin is definitely a candidate to finish this race in the top-five and perhaps the top-three, I think there are other drivers better suited to winning this race (if you exclude his teammate in the No. 18 car).

Gamblers looking for an edge should be aware that a Chevrolet has won at NHMS the past five consecutive races and seven of the last 10. Another recent trend is that two of the last three winners have started from the pole.

Pick: Jimmie Johnson, No. 48. 7/1

LENOX Industrial Tools 301 Solid Gold Picks

Sportsbook.com has listed many matchups on the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 this weekend. Last weekend due to the late availability of match-ups we were unable to provide a pick. We did mention how much we liked Juan Pablo Montoya. JPM was in contention to challenge Busch for the win at Infineon until he was spun out in lap 75 of the 110 laps. While he fell to 18th he rallied to finish the race in sixth. He beat most of the matchups and did not finish ahead of Jeff Gordon's third place as I figured would happen. My record Over-the-Wall is .500 at 10-10 with -1.20 units on the season after 16 of 36 Sprint Cup races have been completed.

Long Odds Value Pick

Clint Bowyer has quietly had a good year and is sitting comfortably in 10th place in the Sprint Cup standings, 484 points behind Kyle Busch. Last week at Sonoma he started 19th and managed a fourth-place finish good enough to move him up two places in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. The last time he won a race for Richard Childress Racing was this year at Richmond for the Dan Lowry 400 (when he just beat Kyle Busch). On the season Bowyer has notched four top-five and eight top-10 finishes and has been competitive in a handful of other races. He had not had a DNF all year. Bowyer won the Sylvania 300 at NHMS last year and holds the track record for average lap speed in a race at 110.475 mph. This is good enough for me to invest a portion of my economic stimulus check on the 07 Jack Daniels car.

Pick: Clint Bowyer, No. 07, (15/1)

Square Tire Pick

Tony Stewart, No. 20, (-1.35)/Dale Earnhardt, Jr., No.88, (+1.05)

Last week I warned about Tony Stewart's awful luck this year and how it could negatively rub off sports investors' bankrolls. And what happened? With just five laps to go in the race Stewart was positioned in third, fighting Jamie MacMurray for second place and then disaster struck as Kevin Harvick lost control going into turn 12 and took out Stewart and MacMurray. The beneficiaries of the accident were the No. 38 Ford of David Gilliland and No. 24 Jeff Gordon who finished the race second and third, respectively. Junior sits in third place in the Sprint Cup standings and a mere 152 points behind the M&M driver. This week I look for Junior to pick up where he left off two weeks ago and continue his momentum as he chases the No. 18 car around the one-mile oval. In 16 starts this year Junior has one off track. With questions still lingering about what he'll do in the future with Joe Gibbs racing we are backing NASCAR's most popular driver.

Pick: Dale Earnhardt, Jr., No. 88, (+1.05)

LENOX Industrial Tools 301 Odds
Sun, Jun 29th (12:30 p.m. EST)
New Hampshire Motor Speedway, NH

AJ Allmendinger100/1
Aric Almirola 60/1
Bobby Labonte 100/1
Brian Vickers 35/1
Carl Edwards 7/1
Casey Mears 100/1
Clint Bowyer 15/1
Dale Earnhardt Jr. 8/1
Dario Franchitti 150/1
Dave Blaney 100/1
David Gilliland 100/1
David Ragan 40/1
David Reutimann 100/1
Denny Hamlin 7/1
Elliott Sadler 60/1
Greg Biffle 15/1
J.J. Yeley 150/1
Jamie McMurray 75/1
Jeff Burton 20/1
Jeff Gordon 10/1
Jimmie Johnson 7/1
Joe Nemechek 150/1
Johnny Sauter 150/1
Juan Pablo Montoya 80/1
Kasey Kahne 25/1
Kevin Harvick 15/1
Kurt Busch 35/1
Kyle Busch 5/1
Marcos Ambrose 150/1
Martin Truex Jr. 18/1
Matt Kenseth 15/1
Michael McDowell 150/1
Michael Waltrip 100/1
Patrick Carpentier 100/1
Paul Menard 100/1
Reed Sorenson 100/1
Regan Smith 150/1
Robby Gordon 150/1
Ryan Newman 35/1
Sam Hornish Jr. 100/1
Scott Riggs 150/1
Terry Labonte 200/1
Tony Raines 150/1
Tony Stewart 8/1
Travis Kvapil 100/1

*Odds courtesy of Bodog.