Take 5: Playoff pictures shakes up after Round of 8 opener at Kansas

Kansas Speedway hosted the NASCAR Cup Series' Round of 8 opener Sunday, and Joey Logano won to snag a Championship 4 berth from below the playoff cutline. That definitely shook up the postseason picture. So, read on to learn NASCAR.com's five biggest takeaways from the Hollywood Casino 400.

LONG LEAD-IN FOR LOGANO: Joey Logano's Kansas victory reasserted his No. 22 Ford's strength, clinching a shot at his second Cup Series championship. His only other title (in 2018) followed the same playbook, with a win in the Round of 8 opener providing his Team Penske crew two weeks of pressure-free racing before the season finale, but it also offers a chance for his team to finesse and tune the No. 22 entry that he'll use Nov. 8 at Phoenix. Logano insists there won't be any let-up for his team in the next two races, but that emphasis will naturally shift toward the final-race preparation. "There's nothing about it that's going to be easy, but we'll take every little advantage we can," said No. 22 crew chief Paul Wolfe. "If giving us two extra weeks is it, we're going to take it."

DANGER ZONE: Chase Elliott entered Sunday's race above the elimination cutline by five points. The No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports wheelman went on to win Stage 1, place fifth in Stage 2 and finish sixth come checkered flag -- good for 47 total points -- despite constant team radio issues inside the Chevrolet. It was a solid day for the HMS crew. But because Joey Logano won from below the cutline -- fifth -- he automatically steals a Championship 4 berth and sits atop the playoff standings. That leaves Elliott in fifth and out by eight points heading to Texas Motor Speedway. "Like I've been saying all week, I feel like you can't have bad tracks and expect to win a championship," Elliott said. "You need to have a shot to win every week and I believe in that a lot. We'll go to Texas, give it our best shot to go win, and same at Martinsville. Hopefully, we're still alive come Phoenix."

BOWMAN'S BOUNCE: Alex Bowman assembled a direly needed effort Sunday at Kansas, notching a third-place finish in the Hollywood Casino 400. That result came with strong finishes of sixth and fourth at each stage break, adding 12 points to his Round of 8 total. Joey Logano's victory "makes my life harder over the next couple weeks," Bowman said, noting that his clinching of a Championship 4 berth, plus the strong points standing for Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin may leave just one remaining spot. Bowman ranks seventh, 27 points off the playoff cut-line, but his best finish of the postseason was a spirit-lifter. "A lot of people said we were going to go out early in the playoffs," Bowman said. "We're still here fighting. We're still bringing really fast cars to the race track each and every week."

HARVICK, HAMLIN HOLD SERVE: The Cup Series' two front-runners in the win column didn't add to their totals Sunday at Kansas, but still remained at the top of the postseason points heap. Kevin Harvick emerged with the most points of any driver, securing a runner-up finish and placing seventh and second at the end of each stage. Denny Hamlin survived a scrape with the Turn 4 wall early in the final stage, but rallied to take 15th for the second straight week -- his subpar result offset by an 18-point haul at the stage breaks. Neither of this season's Big 2 are in must-win situations over the next two weeks to complete their march to the championship finale, but both venues -- Texas and Martinsville Speedway -- have been favorable to Harvick and Hamlin through the years. "We can win every week," Hamlin said of his chances. "Every week we’re up front. I think we can win next week. We can win the week after that and we can win the week after that. Not too worried about having to go out there and win because I know we can do it."

LOOKING AHEAD: The NASCAR Playoffs move to Texas Motor Speedway next Sunday for the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 (3:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). It’ll mark the Cup Series’ 11th race at a 1.5-mile track. Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano lead all drivers with two wins apiece on tracks of that length. Austin Dillon -- no longer title eligible -- won at Texas earlier this year. Kevin Harvick, who sits second in the postseason standings, won last year's playoff event there. "I feel better about Texas than I do here," Harvick said, after finishing second at Kansas. "Our guys did a pretty good job of bringing a whole lot better car than what we had at the first race. If our car's that much better at Texas than it was the first race, it should be a good weekend. You just never know how the cautions are going to fall, the strategy, anything like that. You just have to go lap by lap and see where it falls."