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So it begins. Sixteen drivers, each trying to avoid being one of the four eliminated from contention for the championship after each round of three races.

Kenseth led 352 of 400 laps and cruised to an easy win in the Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond. The win was Kenseth’s fourth of the season, and places him atop the points standings for the start of the Chase.

Richmond, where the final battle royal would take place to decide the final line-up for the Chase. Richmond, where we discovered that only six cars mattered at all the entire night, and all of them already had their tickets punched to the party.

In the last race of the regular season and the one to set the Chase contenders here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 48th annual Federated Auto Parts 500 at Richmond International Raceway.

Matt Kenseth won the Federated Auto Parts 400 in a dominant fashion on Saturday night. Kenseth led 352 laps and skated to a clean victory ahead of Kyle Busch in second and pole-sitter Joey Logano.

Last weekend's race at Darlington used the low downforce package used at Kentucky in July, along with a softer tire compound. On Friday at Richmond, many in the NASCAR community, from the drivers to fans, seemed to be in support of the program.

Chase Elliott won the 2015 Virginia 529 College Savings 250 after holding off pole sitter Kyle Busch in the final 20 laps.

Joey Logano took the pole for the Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway with a time of 21.349 seconds and a speed of 126.470 mph.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and the XFINITY Series head to Richmond International Raceway this weekend. All on-track action can be seen on NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra. The Camping World Truck Series is off.

“I didn’t necessarily want to go to Cup racing when I did, but it’s what I had to do. I didn’t really have any other opportunities on the table. I’m glad I did, though; I’ve really been enjoying it. “It was go backward or go forward, I chose to go forward.”