Richmond Practice Notes

Could Keselowski be worth a play at 8/1 odds? 

We couldn't have scripted the starting lineup for Saturday night's race at Richmond any better, as the best Race to the Chase duel going on between Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch -- fighting for the 10th and final seed among non-winners on the season -- will see them start side by side on the front row. Gordon is only six points behind Busch for the position, and it's likely that he'll lead the first lap and get a bonus point immediately, which will make him only five points back.

Those two will be keeping an eye on each other all night, and while Gordon hasn't won at Richmond since 2000, he did race himself into the Chase last season with a second-place finish there. We don't think either of these drivers will win the race, but we do have a couple of quality candidates that looked good based on Friday's two practices.

The driver that stood out the most was Brad Keselowski. He was fastest in race trim during the first practice session, and then in the final session he had the fastest 10-consecutive lap average. He's never finished better than seventh at Richmond in the Cup series, but he did scratch and claw his way to the win last night in the Nationwide series. He needs lots of help to make the Chase and will do all he can to win. He only ranked sixth on our chart simply because of all the risks he'll be willing to make in the race.

Read More Here.....Top-10 Driver Ratings