Brad Keselowski said following his runner-up finish last week at the Kansas Speedway that a lot of fun can be had for the top drivers in the month of August. See, they all know that they’re solidly into the playoffs. With none of the tracks this month being good indicators for the playoffs, you can just swing for the fences.

But, with how Sunday’s Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 in Loudon played out, I think this very well could have been a preview on what to expect for the rest of the season.

The top five drivers in my mind that are the favorites to make the Final Four in Phoenix this November finished 1-2-3-4-5. A couple of sleepers who could make a surprise run in the postseason finished right behind in 6-7-8. The drivers fighting for the final playoff spot came home 10-11-12.

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See how this could be an indicator on what we could see over the next several weeks?

Keselowski won on Sunday. Denny Hamlin finished second. They were 1-2 last Thursday night in Kansas too, just in the opposite order. Throw in Kevin Harvick and these are the top three in the “favorites” list right?

Hamlin, has five wins and 29 playoff points. Harvick has four wins and 22 playoff points. Keselowski now has three wins and 21 playoff points. Combined, they’ve won 12 of the 20 races run in 2020 and 11 of the 16 races since we returned to racing during the pandemic on May 17 including five of the last seven overall.

Keselowski, has had a top 11 in all but one race over his last 15 starts on the year. He’s scored five straight top 10’s right now, three of those being top fours in his No. 2 Ford.

Hamlin, has eight top two results in his No. 11 Toyota in 2020 (5 wins, 3 runner-ups). But, four of those eight have occurred in the last seven races of the year though too.

Harvick has 17 top 10’s on the year. He has seven straight top five finishes leaving New Hampshire and eight straight top 10’s in his No. 4 Ford.

Yes, those are the favorites.

But, don’t count out Martin Truex Jr. He finished third on Sunday. He was third last Thursday. He was second two weeks ago in Kentucky. That’s three top three’s in his last four starts on the season. He’s heating up.

Finally, Joey Logano is starting to improve too. See, Logano won two of the first four points paying races in the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season. Factor in his Duel win at Daytona, that was 3-for-5 with new crew chief Paul Wolfe.

Then, the COVID-19 pandemic settled in. That hurt them in more ways than one. Without any practice, it hurt Logano and Wolfe. They had never worked before and as he told me last month, cost them finishes.

They have been to these tracks before, but just not together. It was hard to learn each other on the fly. That’s why he went from 3-for-5 in terms of race victories to 0-for-16 now.

In fact, in the 16 races since we returned racing at Darlington on May 17, Logano has scored just three top fives.

Despite that, I think they’re finally starting to find their groove again. Two of those three top five finishes for his No. 22 Ford has come in the last three weeks. He brought his car home third in Texas a couple of weeks ago. He had a fast car last Thursday night in Kansas but got a flat tire and wrecked.

On Sunday in Loudon, Logano showed his speed again and finished fourth. It was his first top five at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway since 2016 but also his seventh top 10 in his last nine on the Magic Mile too.

That’s the top five.

There’s a few behind quietly coming too. Aric Almirola has scored nine straight top 10 finishes. Matt DiBenedetto has three top six finishes in his last six starts. Cole Custer has four top eight finishes in his last five. Watch out for those three.

Behind them on Sunday was Tyler Reddick, William Byron and Jimmie Johnson. Reddick, has four top 10 finishes in his last five tries. He trails Byron by 15 points for the final playoff spot as Byron also has three top 11 finishes in his last four starts on the season. Johnson, followed them across the finish line but hasn’t had a top 10 since Martinsville.

Kyle Busch finished last and doesn’t look like a repeat is coming. He’s failed to win this year so far (0-for-20) and has just one victory in his last 42 starts. With the top five pulling away in playoff points, Busch only has one. He has a lot of ground to make up.

Finally, Ryan Blaney has the speed to compete but he has some bad luck. He had a broken shifter while running in the top five in Kentucky. He led a race-high 150 laps and swept both stages a week later in Texas. He got into the wall while running in the top five in the next race at Kansas then had a wrong stategy call Sunday in New Hampshire.

Blaney, has finished 20th or worse in four of his last six starts on the season and hasn’t had a top five finish since his Talladega win on June 22.