Richmond preview

Here are five things to watch for when the engines fire on Saturday night at Richmond (Va.) International Speedway:

1. Kyle Busch's rebound

In the last three weeks no driver has been involved in more violent wrecks than Busch. At Texas in mid-April, he was so dinged up after crashing that he woozily left the track and Dale Earnhardt Jr. wound up hopping in his No. 5 Chevy for a few laps. Last weekend at Talladega, Busch barrel-rolled during the Busch Series race on Saturday, which was easily the most frightening wreck of the season to date, and crashed in the Cup race on Sunday.

It's sometimes easy to forget how fundamentally dangerous this sport really is. Thanks to safety innovations such as softer walls and the HANS-device (which, by the way, Busch cracked in his ferocious 'Dega wreck), drivers are now walking away from crashes that used to send them to the hospital. But Busch has taken as big a beating this year as any driver I've seen in the five years I've been covering NASCAR for SI, and at some point you'd think this would affect his driving. Currently eighth in the points, Busch has a history of success at Richmond -- in four career starts there he has an impressive average finish of 3.8 -- and he could use a solid, crash-free run Saturday to get his season back on track.

2. Denny Hamlin's time to shine

The 26-year-old Hamlin is a native of Chesterfield, Va., and he considers Richmond his home track. Just a few years ago he was sitting in the stands for this race and he's often said that this is the one place he wants to win at more than any other.

He should have an excellent chance. In the first three Car of Tomorrow races of '07 Hamlin has been very, very fast; in fact, he feels like he should have won all three of them. If this COT race goes like the other three -- and it probably will -- then it will come down to a battle between the Hendrick Motorsports stable and the boys from Joe Gibbs Racing. Hendrick's Jeff Gordon, who has won the last two races, has struggled at Richmond in the last few years, and Kyle Busch, who is Hendrick's top driver at this track, is still reeling from the dustups at Talladega. All of this favors Hamlin and his Gibbs teammate Tony Stewart; the duo may very well finish one-two on Saturday night.

3. Toyota's growth

Last Sunday at Talladega a Toyota driver, David Reutimann, was running in the top-three late in the race when his engine blew. Still, it was Toyota's finest effort of the season, and for the first time the manufacturer appears to making some progress in the Cup Series.

As I noted in the magazine two weeks ago, Toyota officials are anxiously eyeing the Coca-Cola 600 on May 27 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte. That's the night they hope to unveil a newly designed chassis and new engine in their fleet of Camrys. Yes, Toyota has struggled this year, but there's still a strong feeling in the garage that it's just a matter of time before the Japanese automaker gets up to speed -- maybe as soon as later this month.