Five to Watch: Revving up for a short-track Saturday night at Richmond

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series preps for the first short track of the playoffs with Richmond Raceway playing host to the middle event in the three-race Round of 16. With postseason pressure still on an elevated plane, here are five story lines to watch for Saturday night's Federated Auto Parts 400 (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM).

TWO FOR TRUEX?: Martin Truex Jr. heads into Saturday night's 400-lapper aiming for a pair of doubles. A second straight win after last week's playoff-opening triumph in Las Vegas would produce a Richmond season sweep. But the 39-year-old driver has a burden removed for Saturday's start after earning free passage into the Round of 12 with his Vegas victory. "It's a good confidence booster," said Truex, the 2017 series champ. "It came at a good time. I think the bonus points are really critical. We didn't finish where we wanted to in the regular-season standings. We lost a few spots through that stretch there of things happening to us, so bonus points were huge. Just good timing to start the playoffs just for the confidence for the whole group, not just me or Cole (Pearn, crew chief), but for the whole group."

A JUMP FOR JGR: Current events point to one organization as a standout because of its recent Richmond performance: Joe Gibbs Racing. JGR's Toyotas have prevailed in three straight events at the .75-mile Virginia track as part of a stretch that includes wins in six of the last eight Richmond races. That history stands to help all four JGR drivers, but Erik Jones -- last in the playoff field after an early retirement last week at Vegas -- may need it most. "Just need to have a good day," Jones said. "Top five in every stage, finish in the top five and hoping some other guys have some worse days than us is what it's going to take to get at least in a position going into Charlotte where we can at least point our way through. We're not out, by any means."

ROVAL RECOURSE: Saturday's race also provides a chance to release the playoff pressure valve, which is sure to ramp up with next weekend's event at the Charlotte Motor Speedway oval and road course. It's the second go-around for the unpredictable circuit, which has undergone revisions for this year's edition, but it's also the site of the postseason's first elimination with four drivers getting the boot before the Round of 12. "There's no doubt you can control your own destiny a little bit more here at Richmond than you can at Charlotte," said provisional pole winner Brad Keselowski, who crashed out of last year's inaugural event. "A solid day for us here would put us in a position to where we'd have a lot more fun at the Roval."

PREDICTORS OF PERIL: Saturday's event marks the second straight season that Richmond's September date has been a part of the 10-race playoffs, shifting from its previous role as the regular-season finale. Both schedule placements come with their own set of challenges, but neither one makes it easier to predict what may transpire Saturday night. "This race has typically been -- with the exception of last year -- the cut-off race, and you saw a lot of sparks flying and attitudes and things like that," said Ryan Newman, who ranks 13th in the 16-driver field. "But I think it still has that capability. It just happens to be a middle-of-the-road playoff race, not the final cut-off."

CROSSTOWN TRAFFIC: Kyle Busch's late-race contact with lapped traffic last weekend -- and his fiery criticisms afterward -- ignited a debate about courtesy among drivers running at different paces. One week later, no clear-cut solution presented itself with both sides making impassioned arguments about the unwritten rules and etiquette. "You have to be on guard. It's like playing with a snake," said David Ragan, who spun out Garrett Smithley in a similar situation three weeks ago at Darlington. "You know that that snake's dangerous, so you have to take it extra careful. I'm not too worried racing side-by-side (with) Ryan Newman because he's an excellent driver, he's got great equipment, he's got a great spotter. I trust him running side-by-side, but when I drive into the corner with Garrett Smithley, I need to guard up a little bit because you don't know what they're going to do, you don't know what his car's going to do. It's not necessarily the driver. He's hanging on for dear life. He works harder to run 35th than the guy that runs fifth works. That's a fact because I've been in both those scenarios."