10 Storylines For 10 NASCAR Regular Season Races Left

Did You Notice? … This week begins the home stretch of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series regular season?

Ten races in 10 weekends, beginning this weekend at Nashville Superspeedway, will decide the 16-driver playoff field. There’s no off-weeks left on the schedule for teams to catch a breather; it’s now-or-never for those on the playoff bubble to start asserting themselves.

Let’s look at 10 storylines to watch as the summer buildup toward the postseason heats up.

1) Will anyone emerge as a title favorite? In a year where the Next Gen chassis has revolutionized parity, no one driver or team has the edge 16 races into 2022. Hendrick Motorsports leads the way with five victories, seemingly locking all four drivers into the postseason during the year’s first 11 races.

But unlike last season, when Kyle Larson broke out of the pack entering summer, no HMS driver has won since Dover Motor Speedway in early May. You could make a case William Byron, who has yet to make a Championship 4 appearance in his career, is in the best position among the quartet despite trailing Larson and point leader Chase Elliott in the current standings.

That’s how it goes when no Cup driver has more than two victories or 13 playoff points. It puts someone like Denny Hamlin, who’s had a disastrous start with just three top-five finishes, in position to be considered a top-tier title contender. Past experience combined with two surprise wins put Hamlin in a stronger position than you’d think; he won’t face an insurmountable deficit on playoff points to those above him.

There’s also playoff newcomers like the Trackhouse Racing Team (Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez) becoming potential wild cards. TRT is playing with house money and has arguably posted the best speed across all track types throughout the course of the season. But does that mean anything in a year where teams are so close and Trackhouse hasn’t undergone the pressure of competing for a championship?

2) Can Kyle Larson get his mojo back? We’re almost done with the six-race stretch that defined Larson’s run to title contender last season: three straight top-2 finishes from Dover through Nashville Superspeedway. Compare that to 2022, where Larson has just one top-two finish during that same stretch: a second at Kansas Speedway last month.

Now, Larson has to try and find his footing without crew chief Cliff Daniels. Kevin Meendering will fill in for four races after a wheel came off the No. 5 car…