LOUDON, N.H. – The four-day weekend of NASCAR racing at New Hampshire International Speedway will extend into a fifth day Monday.

The remnants of Hurricane Ivan, which drenched the area Friday night and most of the day Saturday, forced NASCAR officials to postponed the Featherlite Modified Series and the Busch North Series races. It was the second consecutive day that the race featuring the modified cars was washed out.

Monday’s card will kick off at 10 a.m. with the Busch North race. Cherryfield, Maine, native Andy Santerre is vying for his third consecutive series championship. He currently holds a commanding 80-point lead over Mike Olsen with three races remaining.

Santerre’s car is owned by Joe Bessey of Rangeley. Bessey is a former car owner in Nextel Cup and owner/driver in the Busch series.

Other Maine drivers entered in the Busch North race include Farmington’s Tracy Gordon, Bill Penfold of Yarmouth and the father/son duo of Kelly and Ryan Moore of Scarborough. The teenage Ryan Moore recently signed a development deal with Theresa Earnhardt of DEI to race in seven Busch series races in 2005 before getting a full-time Busch team in 2006.

While his father has won numerous Busch North races, Ryan is still looking for his first win.

Tickets for Friday’s and Saturday’s scheduled races at NHIS will be honored Monday.

Acing their test

The decision to come to NHIS earlier this month to test has put teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson ahead of most of their competitors for the first race in NASCAR’s Chase for the Nextel Cup.

The top two drivers in the points standings are comfortable with their car’s setup determined from the testing session after qualifying and the final two practice sessions were rained out the past two days.

“With (Saturday’s) weather, I’m really happy we were able to come up here and test for this race,” Johnson said. “Our performance in the spring was fair, but it wasn’t what we had planned or what we wanted.”

The first day of testing was actually rained out. With their time cut in half, the two drivers made the calculated move to concentrate on race setup instead of the qualifying runs during testing.

Starting on the front row, the Hendrick teammates expect to get a quick jump on the rest of the field.

“Both of us left here very happy,” said Johnson.

No pressure

Now that he has fought his way into the top 10, Jeremy Mayfield has no plans to change his overall strategy as he starts his quest for the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

“We’re going to run just as hard as we can like it’s a Saturday night short track somewhere,” Mayfield said. “We’re racing for the trophy and that’s all. When you start racing for points, you get more conservative, you’re more not taking chances … playing defense. We want to play offense.”

That aggressive approach allowed Mayfield to catapult into the elusive group by winning last weekend’s race at Richmond. The victory, his first since taking the checkered flag at Pocono in 2000, lifted Mayfield from 14th to ninth in the points standing.

As the driver of one of two Dodges to qualify for the Chase, Mayfield is in contention for the championship for the first time in his career, which began in 1994. He has finished in the top 10 just once.

“We have nothing to lose,” Mayfield said. “Jimmie and Jeff have everything to lose. Jeff already has won championships. If he loses the championship, that’s huge for him. This is the first time we’ve been up for one. Jimmie has been close the last couple of years. A lot of these guys are trying to hang on to what they’ve got. We’re trying to take everything.”

Narrow escape

Drivers in the Craftsman Truck series narrowly avoided a serious handicap when officials waited out the conditions to run the race as scheduled Saturday.

Track crews had three jet dryers on the track as soon as the storm began to ease up after 2 p.m. Several vehicles continuously circled the “Magic Mile” to help in the drying process. A light mist continued off and on for the next hour, further delaying the start of the race.

If the Sylvania 200 was pushed back to Monday, truck teams would have been scrambling to get to next weekend’s race in Las Vegas by Friday. While the drivers and crews cold board a plane, their transporters would be working overtime hauling the truck and equipment South, and then West.

Teams were facing a tight schedule with two fewer days to haul the truck back to their garages (most are located in the Charlotte area), make the necessary changes and then drive across the country to Las Vegas.

“Our biggest concern is that we’re in New Hampshire and it’s 16 hours for the truck driver to drive home, which means he’s going to get there Tuesday morning,” said Marty Gaunt, the general manager of the No. 38 truck driven by rookie Brandon Whitt. “We figure we can get him out of here at three o’clock Monday afternoon and then he’ll go home and sleep and then get back in the truck on Tuesday night and start driving to Las Vegas.”

It’s not as simple as dropping off a truck in Charlotte, load another and then head to the race. Nextel Cup crews, meanwhile, head to Dover next weekend.

Name change

The NASCAR modified series will have a new title sponsor in 2005.

Whelen Engineering, based in Connecticut, will replace Featherlite as the sponsor of the open-wheeled division, NASCAR officials announced Friday. The series, established in 1985, will be known as the Whelen Modified Series.

The company produces emergency lighting and signaling devices.

The modified series has been the proving ground for several NASCAR drivers, including Jimmy Spencer, Steve Park and Geoff Bodine. Park has returned to his roots this weekend to drive a modified car for the first time since the mid 1990s.

Hit the reset button

Veteran truck driver Rick Crawford said he would love to see a 10-car chase to the Craftsman Truck series.

“Sure, we’re in 10th right now,” Crawford said. “Let’s wipe the slate clean right now.”