For the regular-season finale, Richmond isn't lacking storylines

NASCAR rolls into Richmond International Raceway this weekend with more storylines than an episode of The Young and the Restless.

The season championship series, feuds and rivalries and even Mother Nature will play a part in the Richmond proceedings.

Clint Bowyer, who won the May race, is trying to keep the 12th and final spot. (Getty Images)

While most of the attention will be focused on the track, more than a few eyes are on the skies as Tropical Storm Hanna bears down on the Southeast and eastern seaboard.

Heavy rains canceled qualifying on Friday, forcing NASCAR to move the finale to Sunday.

This has to be disappointing for Joey Logano. The highly touted 18-year-old driver was supposed to make his Sprint Cup Series debut in Richmond.

Logano was tabbed to replace Tony Stewart in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota next season and is slated to make seven Cup starts at the tail end of 2008 in preparation for his first full season in NASCAR's top division.

For Logano, the reality of fulfilling his dream of making it to the top of the stock car racing ladder is here.

"It's definitely sunk in," Logano said. "I guess it really sunk in the day of the announcement, really. Before the announcement, I really didn't think about it too much."

As the final race for drivers to qualify for this year's Chase for the Sprint Cup, this year's fall Richmond stop might be the most important since the controversial championship format was introduced in 2004.

Five drivers have clinched spots in the Chase with the other seven spots still to be determined.

Kevin Harvick and Greg Biffle will be in simply by taking the green flag. But it gets a bit stickier further down the standings with eighth through 14th separated by only 169 points.

Clint Bowyer is on the bubble, coming into race No. 26; he has a 17-point advantage over 13th-place David Ragan and is 48 ahead of Kasey Kahne in 14th. Ragan lost five points in his quest to catch Bowyer last week in Fontana but feels confident he can overcome the deficit and grab a Chase berth.

"We're in the same position we were headed into California," Ragan said. "We're forced to outrun everybody else on the race track. We've just got to have more speed and we've just got to beat them on the race track."

Kahne has cooled off since his early summer run when he rattled off three straight wins, including the All-Star race in Charlotte. But he remains within striking distance of the postseason and plans to go all out in fulfilling that objective.

"There's definitely some pressure," said Kahne. "That was our goal. That is our goal, to make the Chase this year. That's a big part of the season, to make the Chase."

There's also pressure on Bowyer, who can't afford a slip Saturday night that would open the door for Ragan and Kahne to steal the transfer position.

But Bowyer does carry a bit of confidence into the playoff battle thanks to his Richmond victory back in May.

"It's going to be a battle right down to the end," said Bowyer. "Anything can happen in Richmond. But nonetheless, there is a little bit of confidence knowing you're coming off a win there."

As the battle at the bottom of the Chase cutoff rages on, there's a pretty good fight at the top as well.

Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson aren't worried about how many points they can gain at Richmond. Their only concern is to win and pick up the final 10 bonus points available to help in seeding the Chase.

And while Busch and Edwards have dominated the bulk of the season and are considered heavy title favorites, Johnson's late regular-season surge has the No. 48 team thinking about a championship three-peat.

"I'm happy to see people are considering us as a realistic chance for the Chase and a championship contender because our results have shown that, and we have been chipping away at it and getting closer to those guys," Johnson said. "They have set the world on fire."

"Between the two of them they have dominated the first half of the season. I recognize that and give them the respect that they deserve for that. I don't like it and I want to be that guy myself. Hopefully we can switch this around and finish up the season as the dominant car."

Edwards and Busch will have to look out for Johnson, as well as each other, on Saturday night. Richmond is the first short track the duo has encountered since their celebrated tangle at Bristol two weeks ago. The probability of the No. 99 and No. 18 cars running close together on the tight 0.75-mile track at some point will no doubt have most everyone at the edge of their seats.

There will also be a watchful eye on Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who return to Richmond after their closing-laps fireworks in the spring race. Neither will have revenge on their minds after what they both called a racing incident, but short-track racing has a way of elevating emotions in the heat of the battle.

So strap in and get ready for what has all the makings for an interesting weekend of racing.

With so many stories set to play out, I'd set the TiVo just to be on the safe side.