Five to Watch: 2018 Brickyard 400

NASCAR.com's Pat DeCola offers five story lines to watch in what should be a wild regular-season finale Monday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN).

HERE COMES THE RAIN: And once again, (Tropical Storm) Gordon conquers Indianapolis. Mother Nature did not cooperate with NASCAR's plans for a full day of on-track activity Saturday, washing out everything scheduled. The wet weather forced the Xfinity Series race to Monday at 10 a.m. ET, and when rain continued Sunday, the Brickyard 400 was delayed to 2 p.m. ET Monday. This means teams will be hitting the track for one of NASCAR's crown jewel races -- and the cutoff for who makes the playoffs -- with no time spent on track and working on setups. Alex Bowman, Jimmie Johnson and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. indicated Saturday morning they're confident in how their cars will roll off the hauler, but still -- it's hard to think that time on track wouldn't have come in handy for teams still trying to clinch their postseason berths.

RICKY DON'T LOSE THAT RACE: This time last year, Stenhouse Jr. could rest easily knowing he was locked into the playoffs based on a pair of wins that came earlier that season. Now? Not so much. The Roush Fenway Racing talent can only continue racing for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship if he wins at the Brickyard. Based on his previous results at Indy, a win isn't what we'd call ... likely. His average finish is 26.2, with no finishes inside the top 10 in five starts. With everything on the line, perhaps we'll see the aggressive Stenhouse we saw in July at Daytona, but he'll need to put together the best race of his career to land in Victory Lane.

LOOKING FOR MOMENTUM: While a win to make the NASCAR Playoffs is not completely necessary for bubble drivers Johnson and Bowman, a win for Hendrick Motorsports on Monday would go a long way toward making the four-car stable feel quite a bit more, well, stable. HMS comes into the race as not only the defending winner with Kasey Kahne, but as an 11-time winner of the race overall. Kahne's win certainly came unexpectedly, so a win from Johnson (who has kissed the bricks four times) or Bowman isn't out of the question. If it comes, it would provide a strong organizational boost before the playoffs.

SORRY, RULES ARE RULES: Per the rule book, when qualifying is canceled the lineup is set by owners' points ... meaning we're looking at a front row of Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick. As perhaps the two drivers most likely to find the front of the field in this race regardless of qualifying position, the fact that two-thirds of the 'Big 3' will start the race out front -- with third member Martin Truex Jr. right behind them -- means bad news for drivers in need of a win to advance. The likelihood of that trio leading the majority of the race is high, and it might cut down on any chances others have to make their move to the front.

HERE WE GO: That said, this race is probably going to be insane and is nearly impossible to gauge what's going to happen. We saw Kahne wind up victorious in a fluky way last year, and that was during the race's typical weekend, with all of the allotted practice and qualifying time. Now? The race is not only roughly two months later in the year, but it's also the regular-season finale and teams got absolutely no time on track to test things. The race already would have been interesting, but the wackiness of the weekend only adds to the drama.