There's one driver who has finished in the top five in every race thus far -- your defending series champion. He hasn't won at Phoenix in more than a decade (2005), but he'll be a factor on Sunday.
If Jimmie Johnson continues to be among the strongest handlers of the lower downforce package -- and all signs point toward this -- 2016 could be the year we see the 48 team celebrating a record-tying seventh title.
There are two classes of drivers at Phoenix: "Kevin Harvick" and "Everybody else." The defending pole- and race-winner is the unequivocal favorite heading into the weekend.
Not only did Team Penske look great at Vegas (you know, with that whole 1-2 finish thing) but their pair of drivers were the only onesto lead multiple laps besides Harvick in this Phoenix race last year.
It's crazy that Keselowski had a 33-race winless streak. He's almost too good to even believe that stat. The bigger point: He and crew chief Paul Wolfe now have 23 races to tinker with their machine as they prep for the Chase.
It was the opposite of "Hammer Time" at Las Vegas for Hamlin, who finished mid-pack. Started 25th and finished 23rd in this Phoenix race last year, too, so things may again be rough this weekend for the Daytona 500 winner.
Things went extraordinarily well (won fall race) and terrible (43rd in spring race) for Earnhardt Jr. in Phoenix last year. Chances are, he'll fare toward the former on Sunday.
Interestingly enough, Truex's average start is off thus far compared to last year (15.7 to 12.5), but his average finish is way up (6.7 to 12.2).
At times, Busch -- who has won the past two poles -- had the fastest car on the track at Las Vegas, a track where he typically does not run well. You know where he does typically run well? Phoenix.
Edwards' Vegas race was impressive, despite the 18th-place result, after he marched his way from the back to the front. Always a threat at Phoenix, expect Edwards -- and most of the JGR cars, for that matter -- to be strong this weekend, and most.
Another week, another mishap for Kenseth & Co. There's only so many mulligans a driver/team can take, but there's no reason to think Kenseth won't win at least one race and be in the top 30. Things are tough right now, but he'll still be Chase-bound later this year.
Three races in, Austin Dillon nearly has half as many top 10s as he did in all of 2015. Big improvement for the third-year Cup driver thus far.
Things didn't end up favorable for the rookie driver -- 38th-place finish after getting caught up in Kenseth's wreck -- but Vegas was definitely Elliott's best overall performance of the season thus far after running most of the race near the front.
Kahne, coming off a top-10 at Vegas, had three top-five finishes in 2015. The first one came in the spring Phoenix race.
Full-season complexities may still trip up the No. 21 team as a whole, but after Vegas you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone doubting driver talent with Blaney behind the wheel.
It's getting easier and easier to start to lose faith in thinking of Larson as one of the hottest young talents in the sport, with a pair of rookies out-pacing him and shining toward the front of the field. Still plenty of time to change that, but it seems more likely the 24 or 21 lands in Victory Lane before the 42.
There was once a span in which Ryan Newman won three straight Phoenix poles, but that was more than a decade ago. He has just one since, but did win this race in 2010.
After Vegas, Almirola has finished outside the top 20 just twice in the past eight races. He should get back to his slightly above average ways at Phoenix.
We expected the 2012 Nationwide Series (now XFINITY) champion to eventually take over as Roush Fenway's best driver. It didn't happen as soon as we thought, but it appears the time is now.
We're going to see a lot of finishes in the 12-15th position from Menard over the course of 2016. Where did he finish at Phoenix in the two races last year? Fourteenth and 13th.