Power Rankings: Next stop, Championship 4 for William Byron?

NASCAR.com's Pat DeCola ranks the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs drivers after Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s win at Talladega Supespeedway and before Sunday's Round of 12 finale at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course (2 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

12. Chase Briscoe (-1)

Season-high: 9
Season-low: Out

Comment: Briscoe had a lot of optimism coming into the Talladega race after mostly having nothing but solid, top-15 runs there in the past. Instead, it resulted in his second-worst 'Dega finish (30th), walking out of Alabama at the bottom of the playoff standings. It will likely take a win at this point for him to move on, and with one top-20 finish and no laps led through three Roval starts, it would not be wise to bank on that happening.

11. Austin Cindric (+1)

Season-high: 6
Season-low: Out

Comment: Cindric does get a bump up here despite the P32 -- but Sunday had to sting for No. 2 after he appeared in position to win his way into the Round of 8 from the very bottom of the postseason standings. Instead, he'll take his 17 points and try to overcome a 29-point deficit in North Carolina this weekend. He's yet to finish in the top 20 after a pair of Roval starts, but Cindric is a talented road-course racer and he'll need to flex those skills Sunday if he wants to keep his title hopes alive.

10. Joey Logano (-2)

Season-high: 2
Season-low: 20

Comment: Logano turned in single-digit points for the second time in three weeks, while he still hasn't landed in the top 10 since opening the playoffs with a win at Atlanta. Conversely, the two-time champ has led multiple laps in six of the last nine races, and eventually he'll stick at the front of the field, it's just a matter of if he's still championship-eligible when he does. An average finish of 8.7 and five top 10s in six Roval starts suggests his luck turns around this weekend.

9. Daniel Suárez (+1)

Season-high: 8
Season-low: Out

Comment: Like Logano, Suárez also hasn't seen a top 10 since the playoff opener as the light begins to fade on his 2024 title chances. A 20-point deficit is not completely insurmountable, but it just might be for Suárez in this spot. No. 99 has been dreadful at the Charlotte Roval in his six starts there, with an average finish of 27.0, no top 10s or laps led. He's finished 33rd or worse in half of his starts, too. 

8. Chase Elliott (-1)

Season-high: 2
Season-low: 17

Comment: In a race circled as one that No. 9 could've put a stamp on his championship-favorite status, Elliott instead turned in his second-worst finish of the season (29th). Currently the last driver in, most drivers would be sweating in his spot -- but Elliott can probably rest easy this week. He's been the clear driver to beat at the Charlotte Roval, earning back-to-back wins in 2019-20 and leading 15-plus laps in four of the last five races there.

7. Tyler Reddick (+2)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 14

Comment: While obviously not a repeat of his win there in the spring, Reddick did what he had to do, escaping Talladega plus-14 after a strong first stage made up for a mediocre final result (20th). Now, one of the sport's best road racers gets to nurse that cushion this weekend at the Roval, where he was runner-up in 2021 and has a pair of top-eight finishes since.

6. Ryan Blaney (-5)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 12

Comment: Nightmare scenario at Talladega for Blaney, who had a car capable of contending for the win (17 laps led) but crashed out and finished second-to-last for just five total points. The reigning champ is still in great positioning overall, however, with a 25-point advantage over the bubble and a strong 10.2 average finish through six Roval starts.

5. Alex Bowman (+1)

Season-high: 4
Season-low: 18

Comment: Bowman continues to turn in consistent, above-average finishes with a 12.7 average finish and no results outside the top 20 since Michigan. This has been more than enough to keep him afloat and as the only driver with five or more Roval starts and top 10s in all of them, his chances to ride into the Round of 8 look extremely promising.

4. Denny Hamlin (+1)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 13

Comment: Hamlin has now strung together a trio of top 10s for the first time since the spring as all of a sudden he feels back in this thing. The Roval could be an interesting one for him, however. While Hamlin enters a relatively safe plus-30, just one top 10 in six starts at the track is relatively concerning, even if his overall average finish (16.8) isn't awful. 

3. Christopher Bell (+1)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 15

Comment: Given how Bell has run over the past two months, just succeeding everywhere no matter the type of race track, it would be a huge miss if he fails to reach the Championship 4. At plus-57 it's as good as done that he'll at least advance to the Round of 8 and he could continue to build some momentum this weekend at Charlotte, where he won in 2022.

2. Kyle Larson (+1)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 5

Comment: Well how about that -- a Kyle Larson top five at Talladega. Not sure anybody saw that coming, but boy does that make a difference for No. 5's title hopes, not only escaping his trap race but excelling in it. He'll now take an extremely safe 52-point margin into the track he won at in 2021 and likely start looking ahead to an unbelievably favorable Round of 8 for him.

1. William Byron (+1)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 11

Comment: Back. On. Top. The No. 24 driver hasn't climbed the Power Rankings mountain since the last Talladega race and the 2024 Daytona 500 winner is once again in better position than any other driver, having already locked in to the Round of 8. Byron now gets to just race for the win at Charlotte, where he was last year's runner-up, before refocusing his efforts on what lines up for a strong Round of 8 for him as well. We could very well see him and Hendrick teammate Larson in the Championship 4 in back-to-back years.