RICHMOND, Va. —The importance of Saturday night’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway cannot be overstated.

Not because it’s an elimination race – it is not. None of the 16 playoff drivers will be sent packing after the Federated Auto Parts 400 (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN).

But after the chaos that engulfed several playoff drivers at the opener last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the complete unknown of the first-round elimination race next weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Richmond holds an even greater significance, especially for the drivers in the bottom half of the playoff rankings.

NASCAR officials threw a curve ball at drivers when they decided to reshape the playoff race at Charlotte, transforming it from a 500-mile race around a 1.5-mile oval to a part oval-part road-course race at the facility. Instead of 334 laps around a well-traveled oval, drivers will be asked to navigate a 2.28-mile “Roval” that they have never raced on before.

That prospect has all drivers uneasy, injecting additional stress at Richmond. For many drivers, this second playoff race becomes, if not a must-win, then at least a must-finish-well.

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Chase Elliott is one of those playoff drivers who comes into Richmond with more pressure than he expected. Elliott finished 36th in Las Vegas after making contact with Jamie McMurray on lap 212, knocking him from eighth in the standings to 14th — outside the 12-driver cutoff spot to advance to the second round.

"I think this round is going to be tough," Elliott said Friday. "I expect (Saturday) night to be hard fought.

"I can’t say that I’m going to do things a whole lot different because you can get yourself in trouble trying to overreach a lot easier than you can just trying to do what you normally do. We normally try to win, so that’s not going to change tomorrow night.”

Elliott is joined in the bottom four by seven-time NASCAR Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, who sits 13th, Erik Jones (15th) and Denny Hamlin (16th). Aric Almirola (ninth), Austin Dillon (10th), Clint Bowyer (11th) and Alex Bowman (12th) also have reason to put extra focus on running well at Richmond. Johnson, Jones, Hamlin, Bowyer and Bowman were all involved in accidents at Las Vegas.

Even for the drivers occupying the top half of the standings, there is a sense that the Richmond race requires even greater precision than originally anticipated. No one wants to head to the “Roval” facing a must-win scenario.

"For us we just have to come out here and have a solid night," said second-ranked Kyle Busch. "We’d love to go for the win. Get a win and knock ourselves through and not have to worry about next week, but if that doesn’t happen then you finish top-five, even top-10 will probably garner (us) enough points that (we) shouldn’t have to worry about next week.”

Busch came into the playoffs with the top seed after six regular-season victories and 50 playoff bonus points. Busch also struggled at Las Vegas but rebounded to finish seventh behind winner Brad Keselowski, who secured automatic advancement to the second round.

Busch isn’t taking anything for granted at Richmond, however, especially after seeing two of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates — Hamlin and Jones — plummet in the standings after issues in the playoff opener.

"You kind of have a win-or-nothing with the guys who are in the bottom," Busch said about the next two races.

As for himself, Busch has one main goal when he departs Richmond Saturday night: "I hope to have a 60-point advantage on the bottom four, so I don’t have to worry about the Roval!”