Entering Sunday's Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway 10 points below the current cutoff for the Championship 4, Tyler Reddick's path to the title race is arguably more complex than that of any other competitor.
Stage points could play an important role in Reddick's fortunes as he tries to overtake Ryan Blaney, who holds the last Playoff-eligible position. Then again, a variety of circumstances could force Reddick to win the event in order to advance.
Initially, Reddick expects to approach the race the way he would any other.
"It's straightforward," Reddick said. "It's a normal race weekend, honestly. Our (purpose) here in practice is to get a good feel in our race car and understand what we need to do, if anything. Hopefully, we don't have to do anything to it for qualifying and just go out there and execute the qualifying lap just like any weekend."
If a must-win situation develops, however, Reddick needs to be prepared to make adjustments.
"Typically, the way this race plays out, there's really only been a couple guys that have gotten really crazy with strategy to flip their track position," Reddick said. "I don't anticipate a lot of odd-placed cautions, but if they do happen, it's something we'll have to weigh in our minds.
"But if we're at the front of the field like we plan on being, like we're shooting for, we're at the front of whatever strategy we want to be on. It'll just give us more options if that arises. If it comes down to the end of the race, and you've got to get a couple spots, you've got to be aggressive.
"Your whole year's on the line, right?"
Qualifying, however, didn't work out the way Reddick had hoped. He spun in Turn 4 on his second lap in the first round and will start 19th on Sunday — with lot of work to do to keep his championship aspirations alive.
There's no secrecy between teammates at Joe Gibbs Racing
In all likelihood, Martin Truex Jr. must reverse his recent fortunes — or misfortunes, more precisely — and win Sunday's Xfinity 500 to advance to the Nov. 6 Championship 4 race at Phoenix Raceway.
Denny Hamlin, Truex's teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, faces the exact same challenge. Each driver trails fourth-place Ryan Blaney by 17 points and third-place William Byron by 37.
With two Championship 4 spots already claimed by Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell, thanks to their respective victories at Las Vegas and Homestead, and Byron likely to advance on points, Truex and Hamlin could be battling each other for a win at Martinsville and the final Championship 4 berth.
Under the circumstances, you might expect their teams to adopt a secretive mode as they try to gain an upper hand, but Truex says that's not the case.
"Nothing really changes," Truex said Saturday before winning the pole for Sunday's race at the 0.526-mile short track. "We race just like we do every other week. We will go with what got us here. Being in the Playoffs as teammates for so many years, we have that experience, and we know what got us here and things that make us strong as a group.
"Then you go on Sunday and race. You don't hide things, you don't try to do anything different. At least that has been my experience in the past on how we've handled it, and so far, nothing that I've seen has been different."
—By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media