Wide Receivers Preview Part Two

Talking the business of sports

When it comes to the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, Richmond Raceway has a long history of determining which drivers will get the opportunity to race for a championship and which won't. As the site of the cutoff race for NASCAR's original Chase for the Cup format, the bright lights of the Virginia short track were the stage where championship ambitions were either made or broken for good. But in nearly 20 years of playoff racing in the Cup Series, it's never seen anything like the push for the 2022 playoffs.

Richmond Raceway is the site of this weekend's Federated Auto Parts 400, a race which takes place against a backdrop of extreme tension. With Kevin Harvick's win at Michigan making him the 15th different driver to win a race and pencil his name on the playoff grid, only one spot currently remains for a driver to make the playoffs on points with just three races remaining in the regular season. Ryan Blaney holds a scant 19 point advantage over Martin Truex Jr. for that very spot, but both drivers are very much in peril of missing the playoffs despite ranking second and fourth in points.

Christopher Bell (+700): Although there will be a great deal of focus on Martin Truex Jr. given his Richmond record, don't be surprised if things play out in a similar fashion to New Hampshire, where Truex dominated only for Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell to end up in Victory Lane. Bell battled Truex for the lead here in the spring and led 63 laps on his way to a sixth-place run, and he's led a total of 104 laps over the last four weeks, including 31 last week at Michigan.

Richmond is also one of Bell's strongest tracks, as he had top five finishes in both Richmond races in 2021 and has never finished worse than 15th here in his Cup career. He was also exceptional at this track in Xfinity Series competition, winning three out of four races between 2018 and 2019.

© 2004-2022 CBS Interactive. All Rights Reserved.

CBS Sports is a registered trademark of CBS Broadcasting Inc. Commissioner.com is a registered trademark of CBS Interactive Inc.

Images by Getty Images and US Presswire