While Harvick remains atop these Power Rankings, his No. 4 pit crew would likely be at the bottom of any such rankings that evaluated them after another subpar performance.
While Ford is in the midst of a bit of a dry spell, wins-wise, Keselowski continues to perform well and that should continue at Richmond, where he has the best average starting spot among active, full-time drivers (8.6).
MORE: Dry spell for Ford
While Logano’s teammate Keselowski sports the top average starting position, it’s Logano who is the defending pole-winner of the race.
Hamlin is on quite a roll right now, and comes into Richmond as the active, full-time leader in laps led at a whopping 1,405.
Edwards took a bit of a dip at “The Venue Formerly Known as Carlington,” but has some good juju on his side as the spring Richmond winner.
Busch is the race favorite heading into Richmond, with a series-high four wins and a sizzling 6.9 average finish at the Virginia track.
Truex has a tendency to show up on the big stage, as we’ve seen at Daytona, Charlotte and Darlington. The next true big stage? Homestead.
MORE: Truex surges to Darlington win
Larson started from the pole in his first Richmond race as a rookie and should continue his hot streak with an above-average finish in each start there thus far in his career.
Kenseth has been running at the finish of 32 of his 33 Richmond starts, but only 24 of those were on the lead lap. Buy, hey, he’s the defending winner of the race after leading 352 of 400 laps.
It’s unfortunate for Busch, but he takes a tumble this week after a had-nothing-to-do-with-him run-in with Paul Menard that saddled him with a poor finish.
Johnson struggled mightily at Darlington, but should rebound this week with Hendrick running better as a whole and running third in the spring Richmond race (44 laps led).
Elliott backed up another strong run at Michigan with his second-straight top 10 and should be a near-lock to make the Chase.
Stewart and Brian Scott didn’t play nice at Darlington, but don’t expect them to race near each other at Richmond. “Smoke” has the most top 10s at the track (19, tied with Harvick), among active, full-time drivers.
Dillon could really use a strong run at Richmond to ensure he gets in at the Chase, but it’s not a certainty. He’s not fared well there in the past.
Good news: Newman had a great Darlington race to close the points gap between him and Jamie McMurray. Bad news: a failed post-race inspection may negate that.
McMurray is earnestly square on the tip of the Chase bubble and needs to have a good Richmond finish to ensure he makes it.
Kahne seems to have found a little something in his No. 5 ride. Only thing — is it too little, too late?
MORE: Good news for Kahne
Buescher has yet to clinch a Chase berth and certainly can’t take it easy at Richmond, especially after he finished 34th there in the spring.
Blaney all but needs to win at Richmond to make the Chase, but it’s certainly not out of the question for the talented rookie.
It all comes down to Richmond for ‘Dinger’s Chase chances. Unfortunately for him, he has just three top 10s in 18 starts.