Richmond Raceway looms in the windshields of the NASCAR Cup Series this weekend, with just three races left until the end of the 2022 regular season, and only one postseason spot up for grabs, far more dramatic than any other late-season situation in the playoff era.
I went down Virginia, seekin’ shelter from the storm
Caught up in the fable, I watched the tower grow
Five-Year Plans and New Deals, wrapped in golden chains
And I wonder, still I wonder, who’ll stop the rain?
– Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Who’ll Stop the Rain?” (1970)
Regarding this race weekend, at least, John Fogerty missed the mark a bit. The storm is the aforementioned playoff drama, and it’s followed the field all season long, but as a Richmond native, I can confirm that the rain will stop for race weekend (at least I hope so, given how fickle the weather in the summer here can be). Some pretty heavy storms rolled through in the middle of the week, cooling things down for the weekend.
At the risk of sounding cliché, that won’t cool things down on track on Sunday, Aug. 11. A stunning 15 of 16 playoff spots are already taken, with just one guaranteed slot remaining. If that’s filled by the end of Richmond weekend, that’ll put drivers already with a win in danger of falling below the cut line if a winless competitor makes it to victory lane.
That said, let’s take a look at some of the biggest winless contenders with a chance to lock up a playoff spot this weekend.
Martin Truex Jr.
With three wins in the last six races at Richmond, zero finishes outside the top five since fall 2018 and 725 laps led in that same span, Martin Truex Jr. has become the king of (and typical default pick for) Richmond.
An inauspicious start to his Cup career in the Commonwealth (41st and 40th in 2006) wasn’t the best sign for Truex, and he was notoriously not very good on short tracks for years and years. Once he arrived at Furniture Row Racing, and with the subsequent move to Joe Gibbs Racing, Truex found his groove; in his first 10 seasons, he recorded two wins. The eight full-time campaigns since have featured 29 victories.
Truex is looking for No. 30 since the move to FRR before the regular season ends and will likely need it in order to make the playoffs despite being fourth in regular points. Richmond is the ideal venue for him to make a run at it; he hasn’t finished outside the top 10 in a stage since fall 2017.
Ryan Blaney
It seemed like Ryan Blaney was destined…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Frontstretch…