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LOUDON, N.H. — Jeff Gordon's drive for a fifth NASCAR Sprint Cup title enters its eighth year, but even if Gordon wins the championship, he'll look at this crown differently than his previous titles.

Gordon said he'll do so because the format has changed. NASCAR's champion when Gordon entered the series was crowned based on total points during the entire season. That changed when the Chase was created in 2004.

"The only thing that I really feel is that because it's such a drastic change that even if we win the championship this year, I don't think you can count it as five," said Gordon, who starts 10th in today's Chase opener at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. "I think you count it as one and you count the others as four, you know. It's separated.

"To me, the history has changed and how you go about the championship and who is crowned as the champion is totally different. And so I think it's more challenging than it's ever been. It's very competitive and extremely exciting to see 12 guys going for it over 10 races in a play-off type system.

"I think it's where our sport needs to be, especially to be able to compete with the other major sports. And it comes down to Homestead which is great for the fans and the competitors and everybody. But if I win a Sprint Cup, which I hope I do, and I want to really bad, I'm personally going to count it a little bit differently than maybe what the stats and record books are going to show."

A NEW FACE: Juan Pablo Montoya's first entry into the Chase makes him just the second driver to have competed in Indy cars to make the transition to Cup and race for a championship.

Tony Stewart is the only other driver and is a two-time champion, winning one title in 2002 before the Chase and the other in 2005 under the Chase format.

Montoya, who starts today's race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway from the pole, was asked when he stopped considering himself an open-wheel driver when he moved to NASCAR.

"Oh, from the day I came I knew I was committed to be 100 percent in stock car," he said. "A lot of guys come here and say, 'Oh we're going to try for a couple of weeks.' If you come here for a couple of weeks, nobody is going to respect you. You can't race people like you ran open wheel."

"I read an article about Danica (Patrick) may be coming. If she runs somebody hard, they'll dump her. I got dumped a lot of times."

CONVERTED FAN: Three-time champion Jimmie Johnson admits he wasn't a fan of the Chase when it debuted.

"Truthfully it took me at least two seasons to embrace the Chase," he says. "I just didn't like it. I liked the old point system and oddly enough I have won my championships with the Chase a system that took me a long time to buy into.

"I still think winning the championship with the old rules was much tougher."

BUSCH WINS TRUCKS RACE: Kyle Busch held off Ron Hornaday and Kevin Harvick to win the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday.

Busch had just enough fuel to survive, running out of gas as he made his way to victory lane. The NASCAR star has now won a Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Truck race at the 1.058-mile oval.

The real intrigue came behind Busch, where series leader Hornaday spent the last 50 laps battling with Harvick, his boss.

Hornaday finished second to extend his lead in the season points race to 217 over Matt Crafton.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Contact Dustin Long at 373-7062 or dustin.long@news-record.com