Tony Stewart and Brad Keselowski lead Sprint Cup Series in victories, likely championship favorites entering New Hampshire

Through the first 18 races of the season, two drivers have staked the boldest claim on the Sprint Cup Series Championship. They are also the drivers tied with the most wins thus far (3) as Tony Stewart and Brad Keselowski appear poised to battle for the crown heading into the second half of the season.

It’s interesting that Stewart and Keselowski are the two with the most wins. Both are known as summer starters, especially Stewart, whose 40 of 47 career wins come in the summer months after June 1.

His biannual monopoly of winning at Daytona in July (fourth win in eight years) is typically the first of a hot summer streak. But the fact that he’s won three by mid-July has to be quite frightening to anyone hoping to beat the defending Series champion.

It’s frightening to everyone except Brad Keselowski, that is. He doesn’t seem to be scared of anything. He’s bold, brash, and reeling with the confidence of a second-consecutive three-plus win season. He’s also riding the momentum of a hot-stretch that started in July of last year.

Roughly one year ago today, Brad Keseloski was 22^nd in the championship standings, one win, and 70 points out of the Chase cutoff, and desperately in need of wins to get back into playoff contention. We know now that Brad won two of the final nine races, earned the first wild card and finished fifth in the final standings.

That’s 22^nd-to-fifth in 19 races and it all started at Kentucky. He led 79 laps, his most dominant performance since winning a fuel mileage race in Kansas, and ultimately finished sixth. He suffered a set-back the next week at Loudon (35^th) but went on a tear the next eight weeks with finishes of fifth, first, second, third, seventh, sixth and 12^th.

He made the Chase and hasn’t looked back. He wasted no time in resuming the pace begun last year, winning three times in 2012 at Bristol, Talladega and Kentucky.

If Indianapolis in two weeks sets the stage for the stretch run, New Hampshire presents one more chance to make a statement. It’s also one more chance for the likes of Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth to say that they belong in the discussion with Stewart and Keselowski.
Tony Stewart qualified tenth for Sunday’s LENOX Industrial Tools 301. Brad Keselowski qualified 22^nd. Kyle Busch is on the pole. The rest of the qualifying order can be found after the jump. Is this the championship battle or will the final eight races of the regular season invite someone else into the discussion. Tell us in the comments section below.