The Sylvania 300 is at full throttle here in Loudon, and the Chase for the Nextel Cup has officially begun. Stayed tuned to this site for all the details, and updates as they happen:

LAP 300 -- It's over. Kevin Harvick completes a dominant - DOMINANT - weekend with a win in the Sylvania 300. He'll assume the points lead, with Tony Stewart second, Jeff Gordon third and Denny Hamlin fourth.

Well, word here is that power is out on the scoreboard, in the press boxes, and basically everywhere south of NHIS on Rte. 106. PSNH is on the job attempting to rectify the problem, and the race will run as scheduled, but both fans and media will be in the dark, at least to start.

You can already tune in to TNT, and the opening laps of today's Sylvania 300 are just a half hour away, so while the drivers are being introduced we'll take the opportunity to make a few predictions. Here's how the Monitor staff sees the afternoon unfolding:

Raceday has arrived here at New Hampshire International Speedway, and the weather couldn't be better. With high temperatures expected to approach 83 degrees, and sun splashing the asphalt oval, the teams are arranging their pit boxes now prior to the 1:40 green flag.

They're on the track here at New Hampshire International Speedway, and Mike Skinner has put himself in a power position for this afternoon's Craftsman Truck Series race by taking the pole.

Cup Happy Hour is about to begin momentarily, so we'll post again after that with a rundown of practice times and which chasers are getting dialed in as raceday approaches.

The beat goes on for Kevin Harvick, who carried the momentum of winning at Richmond all the way to Loudon and turned his efforts into the pole position. Posting an impressive lap of 28.793 seconds, Harvick earned the front spot ahead of Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman and Denny Hamlin.

It's been a busy morning here in Loudon, with several of the drivers who'll chase a championship appearing in the media center, and the first on-track activity beginning to roll around the 1.058-mile oval.

With the rain still falling, and not seeming as though it'll cease anytime soon, today's festivities at the track have been canceled. Qualifying for the Busch East and Whelen Modified series will not happen, and instead the starting grid will be slotted due to owner points.

Since it's started spitting and the blowers have been brought on to the track, we're go to alternate programming. This rain-delay version of the "Live in Loudon" blog will feature the Top Ten List read by the Nextel Cup chase contenders on last night's Late Show with David Letterman (CBS, 11:35 p.m.). Here's the transcript, courtesy of NASCAR.com:

After eight long weeks, we've brought New Hampshire International Speedway back into the blogosphere, as NASCAR returns to the Granite State. As in July, we'll be blogging right through the weekend, with race updates and information as each become available.