NASCAR playoffs: 'Big 3' welcome Brad Keselowski into club
It is official — well at least for this week — NASCAR’s “Big 3” has morphed into the “Big 4” because Brad Keselowski has emerged from the shadows for three consecutive victories.
With his victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Keselowski has taken a step up to the NASCAR elite joining Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick.
Race 2 of the playoffs is at Richmond International Raceway, where many of these drivers have enjoyed success.
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Some of racing’s biggest names are just hanging by a frayed thread. It’s time to press the panic button. This is the way the knockout playoff format is designed.
Welcome, Brad
Martin Truex Jr.
LEADER: 2,087 points
LAST FIVE RACES: 14th, 30th, 11th, 40th, 3rd
CAREER AT RICHMOND: 25 starts, 0 wins, 2 top-five, 19.8 average finish
BUZZ: Truex had a horrible string of finishes going into the playoffs but emerged from Race 1 with a top-5. Truex says he is in it to win it and now has shown the performance to back up those words.
Kyle Busch
POINTS BACK: 2
LAST FIVE RACES: 3rd, 20th, 7th, 8th, 7th
CAREER AT RICHMOND: 26 starts, 5 wins, 16 top-five, 7.2 average finish
BUZZ: Busch probably had Richmond circled on his calendar because it is one of his playgrounds. Busch has an outrageous percentage of top-5 finishes (61 percent) in his career starts. Just what the doctor ordered
Brad Keselowski
POINTS BACK: 18
LAST FIVE RACES: 2nd, 16th, 1st, 1st, 1st
CAREER AT RICHMOND: 18 starts, 1 win, 4 top-five, 13.7 average finish
BUZZ: “Kez” stormed into the playoffs with two wins and extended his winning streak to three at Las Vegas. He has turned the “Big 3” narrative into the “Big 4” thanks to his late-season exploits.
Kevin Harvick
POINTS BACK: 27
LAST FIVE RACES: 1st, 10th, 4th, 4th, 39th
CAREER AT RICHMOND: 35 starts, 3 wins, 13 top-five, 10.3 average finish
BUZZ: After ranting about the quality of tire Goodyear handed out at Las Vegas, only a victory at Richmond will soothe the savage beast. Harvick drives harder when he is angry. Hope those tires hold up.
The right direction
Joey Logano
POINTS BACK: 31
LAST FIVE RACES: 10th, 4th, 2nd, 13th, 4th
CAREER AT RICHMOND: 19 starts, 2 wins, 8 top-five, 11.5 average finish
BUZZ: Keep an eye on Logano. Keselowski, his teammate at Team Penske, is grabbing headlines, but Logano has quietly posted three top-5 finishes in his last four starts. He is flying under the radar.
Kurt Busch
POINTS BACK: 41
LAST FIVE RACES: 6th, 1st, 6th, 6th , 21st
CAREER AT RICHMOND: 35 starts, 2 wins, 7 top-five, 15.3 average finish
BUZZ: Busch was battling for a possible top-5 finish at Vegas when he got swallowed up in multi-car wreck on Lap 266 (of 272). He limped home 21st, but finished higher than six other playoff drivers.
Ryan Blaney
POINTS BACK: 45
LAST FIVE RACES: 5th, 7th, 15th, 11th , 5th
CAREER AT RICHMOND: 5 starts, 0 wins, 0 top-five, 28.6 average finish
BUZZ: Blaney may be in the lead of this group, but he needs to start posting some top-5 finishes really fast in order to stay in the game. This team needs to step up its game if it wants to advance.
Kyle Larson
POINTS BACK: 46
LAST FIVE RACES: 17th, 2nd, 3rd, 14th , 2nd
CAREER AT RICHMOND: 9 starts, 1 win, 2 top-five, 10.0 average finish
BUZZ: Larson scored his sixth, second-place finish of the season at Vegas. Good for points, but he extended his losing streak to 37 races going back to 2017. Watch out if the No. 42 Chevy starts winning.
Points sandwich
Aric Almirola
POINTS BACK: 53
LAST FIVE RACES: 7th, 31th, 14th, 23rd , 6th
CAREER AT RICHMOND: 13 starts, 0 wins, 1 top-five, 16.3 average finish
BUZZ: Almirola and the next three drivers are in no man’s land here. They can race for points to advance to the Round of 12 or stretch their necks and go for a win. They do have the points-racing option.
Austin Dillon
POINTS BACK: 56
LAST FIVE RACES: 4th, 13th, 16th, 22nd , 11th
CAREER AT RICHMOND: 9 starts, 0 wins, 0 top-five, 21.1 average finish
BUZZ: Dillon is not going to stack wins like Keselowski, so the guess here is the Daytona 500 champion won’t take any big swings at a playoff victory. It looks like he is playing the survivor game here.
Clint Bowyer
POINTS BACK: 58
LAST FIVE RACES: 12th, 6th, 36th, 5th , 23rd
CAREER AT RICHMOND: 25 starts, 2 wins, 4 top-five, 13.2 average finish
BUZZ: Bowyer’s No. 14 Ford wasn’t on the Vegas accident report. He just rolled snake eyes in Sin City. It’s time to step up or step off. Of his 10 career wins, two have come at Richmond’s .75-mile oval.
Alex Bowman
POINTS BACK: 59
LAST FIVE RACES: 19th, 8th, 23rd, 33rd , 19th
CAREER AT RICHMOND: 5 starts, 0 wins, 0 top-five, 30.6 average finish
BUZZ: Of all drivers mentioned to date, Bowman has the least amount of success. He has yet to score a Cup Series win and just barely made it into the playoffs. This is a building year for the 25-year-old.
The wild bunch
Jimmie Johnson
POINTS BACK: 65
LAST FIVE RACES: 28th, 9th, 39th, 16th , 22nd
CAREER AT RICHMOND: 33 starts, 3 wins, 7 top-five, 15.3 average finish
BUZZ: If the comeback for the ages is going to happen, it has to start this week. This is a solid track for the seven-time NASCAR champion, who needs a gob of points, or a long-awaited victory.
Chase Elliott
POINTS BACK: 68
LAST FIVE RACES: 9th, 3rd, 5th, 15th , 36th
CAREER AT RICHMOND: 6 starts, 0 wins, 1 top-five, 13.8 average finish
BUZZ: Jamie McMurray had a tire issue and lassoed Elliott’s No. 9 Chevy into an unexpected retaining-wall fray. The crash caused a “pop” in Elliott’s left shoulder, adding injury to insult.
Erik Jones
POINTS BACK: 78
LAST FIVE RACES: 13th, 5th, 8th, 2nd , 40th
CAREER AT RICHMOND: 3 starts, 0 wins, 0 top-five, 19.0 average finish
BUZZ: Talk about penthouse to outhouse. Jones started on the pole and finished last at Vegas. The only hope here is a Hail Mary victory, which is not impossible, but highly improbable. Wait until next year.
Denny Hamlin
POINTS BACK: 79
LAST FIVE RACES: 8th, 14th, 10th, 3rd , 32nd
CAREER AT RICHMOND: 24 starts, 3 wins, 11 top-five, 9.3 average finish
BUZZ: Of the 16 drivers still standing, only Kyle Busch has a better finishing average than Hamlin at Richmond. Car owner Joe Gibbs has been on Hamlin to win and this looks like his best chance to advance.
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