2018 Monster Energy Series Championship 4 Watch: Phoenix

Elimination time has arrived for the eight drivers remaining in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoff picture. Only Joey Logano (Martinsville winner) has clinched a berth in the Championship 4 field for the Nov. 18 season-ender at Homestead-Miami Speedway. For the rest, there's work to do this weekend at ISM Raceway in Phoenix, site of Sunday's Can Am 500 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM), the Round of 8 finale. Here's a glance at the playoff picture for the drivers still aiming to stay title-eligible into the next-to-last race of the 2018 campaign.

Kyle Busch

Points above cutoff: +28

Phoenix wins: 1

Average track start: 11.3

Average track finish: 11.8

Notable: Busch's playoff-point bonanza for winning seven races this season persists as a huge advantage for pushing the No. 18 team into the Championship 4 for the fourth straight year. He stands a solid chance of clinching with a win: Busch has top-five finishes in five of his last six Phoenix starts.

Martin Truex Jr.

Points above cutoff: +25

Phoenix wins: 0

Average track start: 12.5

Average track finish: 16.5

Notable: Truex has a comfy points margin to fall back on, but -- like Busch -- his Homestead bid may face peril if a postseason driver below the cut line can find Phoenix's renovated Victory Lane. ISM Raceway has historically been a mixed bag for Truex, but his most recent results hold promise: two straight top fives and a Busch Pole there in March.

Kevin Harvick

Points above cutoff: +3

Phoenix wins: 9

Average track start: 15.6

Average track finish: 9.5

Notable: Harvick and Co. would much rather be resting easy on the benefits of their Texas win, but if there's a bright side to the damaging, midweek 40-point penalty for the No. 4 team, it's the venue that's next on the schedule. Harvick's brilliance in the desert is without peer, with victories coming in seven of the last 12 Phoenix races. He'll need to rely on that trademark consistency with his points cushion and automatic berth gone.

Kurt Busch

Points below cutoff: -3

Phoenix wins: 1

Average track start: 12.5

Average track finish: 13.6

Notable: Busch started the week facing a 25-point gap below the cut line, but the L1 penalty to his teammate has shrunk that margin. He'll need to shake off the ho-hum results of his most recent Phoenix trips: his last three races there have netted finishes outside of the single digits.

Chase Elliott

Points below cutoff: -17

Phoenix wins: 0

Average track start: 6.8

Average track finish: 6.8

Notable: The Harvick penalty chopped Elliott's points deficit nearly in half, but the No. 9 driver still has eyes on clinching without math and guesswork. Finishes of second and third in Elliott's most recent ISM Raceway events provide some additional hope.

Aric Almirola

Points below cutoff: -35

Phoenix wins: 0

Average track start: 19.5

Average track finish: 16.3

Notable: It's a must-win for the No. 10 team. Despite being 35 points below the cutline, it's far enough back from the front of the pack that Almirola can only advance with a win. Historically, he's struggled at Phoenix, but there's modest improvement in his most recent ISM Raceway efforts, which yielded ninth place in this race last year and a seventh-place run in March.

Clint Bowyer

Points below cutoff: -51

Phoenix wins: 0

Average track start: 19.9

Average track finish: 18.4

Notable: A win is all that will carry the No. 14 bunch into the Championship 4 bracket. Bowyer did finish sixth at Phoenix in March, but he hasn't led a green-flag lap at the 1-mile track since 2006, a span of 24 races.