Time is a flat circle. Despite a midseason slump, Hamlin opened and closed the regular season with major victories and rolls into the postseason as the series' hottest driver. Oh, and guess who won last year's Chase opener?
MORE: Hamlin wins Richmond
If you're looking for an odds-on favorite to put a stop to Toyota's recent dominance, look no further than Keselowski, who is running well and won the Chicago race in 2014 from the 25th starting position.
Harvick comes to Chicago as the defending pole winner, but finished 42nd. That said, he has a series-high eight top-five finishes there and was fastest in a test session last month.
MORE: Harvick on his crew
Larson may be the scariest in a Chase field full of underdogs, especially since he's shown he already has a strong handle on Chicago in his young career (5.0 average finish in two races).
Truex didn't manage to come up with his second straight victory, but his 193 laps led at Richmond re-affirmed that his No. 78 team is as strong as any other in the Chase.
RELATED: No. 78 fails inspection
Busch led a whopping 121 laps at Chicago last year, but it was his teammate Denny Hamlin who took the checkered. Still, Busch is a threat to win every week.
Logano is in the midst of an overall solid run, with five straight top 10s, but has just the one win this year. Still, we saw how dominant he can be in the Chase last year.
Edwards' finishing position has gotten worse each week since Bristol. No major concerns, but he hasn't won since Richmond -- the first one.
Can a guy who has 17 top-10 finishes be considered a sleeper? Sure, since nobody seems to be talking about Kurt Busch. And they should be.
Kenseth will likely come alive in the Chase -- as he always seems to do, particularly in the first round -- but it seems odd that he only has 11 top-10 finishes, right?
Despite the awkwardness of crashing into Jeff Gordon at Richmond, Elliott still managed to make the Chase. He's inconsistent at times, which could seriously hurt his postseason chances.
MORE: Elliott runs into Gordon
Time will tell if Ryan Newman will seek payback, but if "Smoke" can win at Chicago -- where he has a series-high three victories -- he may not need to worry for a few weeks, and perhaps Newman will have cooled off by then.
MORE: Stewart, Newman collide
Johnson is winless at Chicago -- shockingly -- but has led a series-high 577 laps.
McMurray has been excellent lately, but comes into Chicago with the worst average finish at the track among Chase drivers with more than two starts there (20.8).
Dillon starts well at Chicago (10.0 average starting position) but has faded significantly in his two starts (29.5 average finish).
Not many are pegging Buescher to make it past the first round of the Chase, but not many (any?) had him making it this far, either. He's the reigning XFINITY Series champion for a reason.