LOUDON, N.H. — Not yet halfway through his first season as a NASCAR team owner,Tony Stewartalready is thinking about expanding.

Stewart-Haas Racing is enjoying a banner season, with Stewart leading the Sprint Cup standings and teammateRyan Newmansitting seventh. That success has Stewart entertaining the idea of adding a third car next season.

“The biggest thing is you’ve got to make sure you can fund it first,” he said. "You can build a team, but if you don’t have the money to run it, it’s not going to work.

“We haven’t talked to anybody at this point. (We’re) just letting everybody know we’re open to discussing it. It doesn’t cost a dime to listen.”

Among the driver candidates should Stewart decide to move forward isBrad Keselowski, 25, who is third in the Nationwide Series standings driving forDale Earnhardt Jr.’s JR Motorsports team.

Keselowki also has made five Cup starts this year. He won in April at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway and was sixth Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Rick Hendrick, Earnhardt’s Cup boss, is a partner in the JR Motorsports team and last week met with Keselowski. Among the possibilities discussed for getting Keselowski a Cup ride in 2010 were moving JR Motorsports to the Cup series or putting him in a third car at Stewart-Haas Racing, which is a satellite operation with Hendrick Motorsports and leases its engines from Hendrick.

“There’s a lot of options out there,” Keselowski said.

Stewart was among the first to congratulate his replacement at Joe Gibbs Racing,Joey Logano, after the rookie’s victory Sunday in the rain-shortened Lenox Industrial Tools 301.

“I’m happy for all the guys on (that) team,” Stewart said after finishing fifth to stay solidly atop the standings, 69 points ahead ofJeff Gordon. “It’s been a hard learning year for Joey, and he’s done a great job. It’s like I told him: 10 years down the road, nobody’s ever going to know how this win came.”

Newman was on the same strategy as Logano but ran out of fuel while leading shortly before the rain came. His car stalled in the pits and he lost three laps to finish 29th.

“Coulda, woulda, shoulda,” he said. “We could have been leading at the end. It just didn’t work.”

Kasey Kahnemoved to within one point ofJuan Pablo Montoyafor the 12th and final Chase qualifying position by finishing 10th to Montoya’s 12th. . . . Just 17 points separate 10th-placeMatt Kensethfrom 14th-placeDavid Reutimann. . . . TNT race announcerBill Weberwas suspended for Sunday’s race, a network spokesman confirmed. No reason was given, but witnesses reported Weber got into a confrontation at his hotel. He was replaced on the broadcast byRalph Sheheen.