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LOUDON, N.H. — It started shortly after NASCAR revamped restarts three months ago. Strategies and setups among Sprint Cup teams began to change. Only a few teams switched at first, but others followed after they saw how many positions a driver could gain quickly.

With no clear Chase favorite this season, every position — and point that comes with it — could be critical. Gain three spots per race because of restarts and that could be about 100 extra points during the 10-race Chase. No driver has won the Chase by more than 77 points.

"It's definitely going to play a role in the Chase," says three-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson about the new restarts that align the leaders side-by-side instead of nose-to-tail.

The change enhances chances to pass. That's created a greater sense of urgency — and daring — among drivers. It also creates the likelihood of an accident that could derail a driver's title hopes.

"When they drop the green flag, it's slam-bam," Jeff Gordon says. "You're driving three-wide.''

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The News & Record, with the help of NASCAR's Loop Data statistics, examined the running order since the double-file restart rule debuted in June. The order at the end of each caution period was compared to the order five laps later, provided they were all green-flag laps. The purpose was to see how many positions a driver gained or lost after a restart.

Five consecutive green flag laps of racing were selected to give drivers time to make their moves. Any caution that occurred within five laps of a previous caution was not counted.

Ryan Newman gained more positions than any other Chase driver. He moved up 101 positions in 75 restarts. Newman's teammate, Tony Stewart, gained 76 positions. They were the only drivers to gain an average of one position per restart. Kurt Busch was next, gaining 67 positions, followed by Denny Hamlin (62 positions gained) and Jimmie Johnson (60).

Mark Martin, who lost 20 spots, and Greg Biffle, who lost 61 spots, were the only drivers not to gain positions off restarts. Discount the road races, where teams often pit under green instead of caution, and Martin would have gained 22 spots on restarts. Biffle would not see such a gain if the road course races were not totaled.

To better gauge a driver's ability on restarts, statistics were compiled to see how often they either maintained or gained positions five green-flag laps after a restart. Kurt Busch was the top Chase driver. He either kept his spot or gained at least a position 84 percent of the time. Jimmie Johnson was next at 82.7 percent and Tony Stewart followed at 81.3 percent.

Greg Biffle was last among Chase drivers at 58.7 percent, meaning that Biffle lost at least a position on more than 40 percent of the restarts.

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Hamlin said the decision to change strategies and make the car better after a restart was simple. So were the changes. Teams slightly altered setups and often increased the tire pressure, so the tires provided the maximum of grip immediately. That's a trick many teams often do toward the end of the race but had not done as often throughout it. Until recently.

Hamlin says he'd rather get as many positions as he can off a restart and then worry about holding off his competitors as the car's handling goes away.

"The thing about, 'Oh, we'll catch them in 20 laps from now,' that just doesn't happen anymore," Hamlin says.

Busch notes that with "these cars, it's sometimes difficult to pass other guys when you're running side-by-side with them. When they're dropping the green on a restart, that's the best time to take advantage of that."

An important element of the new rule, to Stewart, is that the lead lap cars are all together instead of starting next to cars a lap or more down that are struggling.

"When you have lead lap cars there, you are a lot more comfortable with these double-file restarts knowing that they guys you are around are cars that are driving good," he says. "A lot of times when you had lap-down cars on the inside, guys are struggling, that is why they got a lap down to begin with and now they are fighting to try to get themselves back on the lead lap and they make mistakes, makes you nervous around them."

Newman credits his success to his cars, noting that Stewart-Haas Racing has made them better at the restarts.

"That's something I wasn't used to last year,'' he said. "(And) I've been a little bit more aggressive."

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Kevin Harvick had a better car at Atlanta two weeks ago on the long runs but Kasey Kahne was better just after restarts.

Kahne won that race. Harvick finished second.

Twice that race, Kahne took the lead after a restart. The last time he did it was when he pulled ahead of Harvick with 11 laps remaining in the race.

"I knew we could go fast for about 15 laps, faster than anybody," Kahne said after the win.

That's a refrain drivers could be saying throughout this Chase as they search for every possible point. This year's champion could be the one who is the fastest at the start, at least a restart. Not the finish.

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