Power Rankings: Truex Jr.’s chances ticking, but Martinsville race right on time

NASCAR.com's Pat DeCola ranks the 2021 NASCAR Playoffs drivers after the Round of 8 middle race at Kansas Speedway and before the elimination race at Martinsville Speedway.

8. Joey Logano (--)

Season-high: 2nd
Season-low: 11th
Comment: Logano recovered nicely from his Texas tumble with a top 10 — his seventh top-11 finish in eight playoff races — but still sits on the bottom of the pile. The 2018 champ and fall race winner that year will need to be up on the wheel at Martinsville, where he likely needs to win to advance. A super-aggressive Logano at "The Paperclip"? Count us in.

7. Ryan Blaney (-4)

Season-high: 4th
Season-low: 15th
Comment: It obviously wasn't up to him, but Blaney sure did pick a bad time to have his worst finish of the season. One of the second half's hottest drivers now sits (slightly) on the outside looking in entering Martinsville, where he's yet to win but has a pair of runner-up finishes in the last three races.

6. Brad Keselowski (--)

Season-high: 2nd
Season-low: 15th
Comment: After a roaring start to the playoffs, Keselowski now has two finishes outside the top 15 in the last three races and has a six-point hole to dig out of at Martinsville. While he was 33rd there this spring, it sapped a five-race top-five streak for the 2012 champ, with two wins sprinkled in from 2017-on.

5. Kyle Busch (-1)

Season-high: 2nd
Season-low: 14th
Comment: From Daytona-on, Busch has five finishes of 27th or worse ... and somehow is still a point to the good heading into Martinsville. It's really tough to say what kind of race the volatile No. 18 team will have this weekend — it's entirely possible he takes a beaten up Toyota to Victory Lane — but the jury's out. The only thing we know? He'll be a factor Sunday.

4. Martin Truex Jr. (+3)

Season-high: 2nd
Season-low: 10th
Comment: Snapping a three-race stint outside the top 10, Truex rebounded from from in-race miscues for a strong top seven at Kansas. He's down three points to his JGR teammate in the No. 18, but Truex probably has the best shot of anyone at winning his way in this weekend. The 2017 champ has straight dominated Martinsville lately, with three wins in the last four races there and a whopping 745 laps led in that span.

3. Denny Hamlin (-1)

Season-high: 1st
Season-low: 6th
Comment: Another race, another top five for Mr. Hamlin, who has five in the last eight for an overall 5.1 average finish in the playoffs thus far. Though still not locked into the Championship 4, it would be a tremendous shock if he is unable to clinch at what has historically been his best track (five wins, 9.7 average finish) in his home state. It's almost a little too perfect that it's concerning.

2. Chase Elliott (+3)

Season-high: 1st
Season-low: 10th
Comment: It looked for a bit at Kansas that Elliott would be able to chase down his teammate at the end, but wisely elected the safe route to a runner-up finish to bolster his position heading into Martinsville. As the defending winner of the next two races, there's an extremely strong chance that Elliott and Larson — we know he ain't going anywhere — will be battling for the checkered each of the next two weekends, and last year's champ is likely going to be a little more persistent in each.

1. Kyle Larson (--)

Season-high: 1st
Season-low: 14th
Comment: What else is there to say at this point, 34 races in? Nothing from here on out will change the fact that Larson has been this season's best driver — with four wins in the playoffs alone, including the last three. He'll be the favorite at Phoenix, and this weekend offers a decent tune-up with the same rules package used in the two races to close out the season. Plus, he's never won at the Virginia track before, so if he does claim a grandfather clock this weekend ... he may be unbeatable at Phoenix.