Who Will Win?
Bowyer Clint Bowyer: There are two flat-track masters in the Sprint Cup Series: Denny Hamlin and Clint Bowyer. The former has two wins already in 2012, the latter is putting together a better-than-expected first season with Michael Waltrip Racing. Bowyer will continue his solid start with his first win of the season, solidifying MWR's emergence as a player. – Jay Hart
Denny Hamlin: The hometown boy has a chance to win his short-track showdown on Thursday night, the Nationwide race on Friday night and the Sprint Cup race on Saturday night. Will he win all three? And if he did, would he get to claim triple-win bragging rights alongside teammate Kyle Busch? Hamlin has two Richmond wins, but they've both been in the fall race. He gets to victory lane in the spring race for the first time Saturday night. – Nick Bromberg
Kyle Busch: He hasn't been much to talk about this season – or, really, since his suspension at the end of last year – but Kyle Busch is absolute money at the spring race in Richmond, with three wins in the last three years and more than 500 laps led. He's still one of the best drivers in the field, but he needs to start proving it; he has missed the Chase before by waiting too long to make a run. – Jay Busbee
Top storyline
• All hail the return of the yellow. Richmond has its share of long green-flag runs, but we're thinking that there might be more than a few yellows this weekend to bunch up the field. No doubt the drivers like running with room on all sides, but if NASCAR really does throw phantom cautions – and believe it or not, some people think that's the case – expect a haunted mansion of yellows this weekend to put an end to all this green-flag nonsense. – Jay Busbee
• Will the Michael Waltrip Racing revival – can it be a revival if they weren't really viable before? – continue? If Clint Bowyer is going to get to victory lane, this should be the place. And if he does, well, let the dissection begin (if it hasn't already) into the relationship between Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing and MWR. – Jay Hart
• With the spate of crash-free racing in the Sprint Cup Series, how much would the NASCAR world rattle if, say, Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. tangled together when racing for the lead like they did in 2008? That'd be a crash that would silent the caution-less cries and be a great discussion for the series to stew on the next few weeks, right? – Nick Bromberg
From The Source
Martin Truex Jr.: "We just need to keep this thing going. We’ve been on one heck of a roll over the last 12 or so races. I realize it is early in the season, but we are right where we want to be."
