Analysis: Rating playoff rebound hopes for Chase Elliott, Erik Jones

The NASCAR Playoffs got off to a wild start in Sunday's Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series postseason opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, as it felt like nearly every driver in 16-driver field found trouble of some sort at some point during the race. Two of those competitors in a precarious position leaving Las Vegas were a couple of young favorites to potentially make deep runs in the field. RELATED: Updated playoff standings | Every incident in Vegas Polesitter Erik Jones slammed into the back of Kevin Harvick to end his day on Lap 148, while Chase Elliott ended the day early after getting caught up in Jamie McMurray's mess on Lap 212. "All good and move on to Richmond," Elliott said. "It puts us in a hole to start, so not good." "It’s not the situation we need to be in," said Jones. "We have some work to do now.” MORE: Harvick, Jones wreck out | Elliott, McMurray collide in final stage Unfortunately for both Elliott and Jones, their positions in the playoff standings -- 14th and 15th respectively -- have put them in quite the hole with Richmond Raceway and the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course remaining in the first of three elimination rounds. Elliott fell back six spots from his original seeding, while Jones fell five slots. So who has the best opportunity to rebound as both now find themselves on the outside looking in? ANALYSIS: Wild Las Vegas opening leaves competitors reeling With all the unknowns that await Elliott, Jones and the rest of the playoff drivers at Charlotte road course, Saturday night's race at Richmond (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) is of the utmost importance. Elliott and Jones have both seen similar up-and-down results at the 0.75-mile Virginia short track. In six races, Elliott has collected two top-10 finishes, including a runner-up result in this year's spring race. For Jones, three races have produced finishes of 38th, sixth and and 13th, respectively. Looking at stats alone, Elliott gets the nod for producing better results at Richmond over Jones. However, Jones has had more consistent finishes recently, finishing no worse than 16th in the final 10 races in the regular season, while Elliott had four finishes of 13th or worse in that same span. Both of them also earned first-career victories, as well. FINAL VERDICT: Elliott has slightly better odds over Jones to rebound from Las Vegas and make the Round of 12. The Hendrick Motorsports driver has a smaller deficit to dig out of (-9 points to the last transfer spot, while Jones is -19). Yes, Jones has put together a more consistent string of results over the past two-plus months, but Elliott nearly won Richmond in the spring. The win at Watkins Glen could also give Elliott a little more confidence going into the Charlotte road course.