Power Rankings: Christopher Bell looking like an early Championship 4 contender?

16. Chase Briscoe (-1)

Season-high: 10


Season-low: 20


Comment: Darlington was a potential track for Briscoe to strike at, but instead he was saddled with a sixth straight finish of 20th or worse. He'll now try to regain his footing at Kansas -- where he's yet to finish better than 19th in three starts -- as he looks to stave off an early playoff exit.

15. Kevin Harvick (-8)

Season-high: 5


Season-low: 15


Comment: Just like that, all the momentum Harvick had built at the end of the regular season disappeared. Harvick was pegged by some as perhaps the first driver to punch a Round of 12 ticket, but a mechanical failure sent him to his worst Darlington finish since 2008. He's been just as successful at Kansas over the past decade with three total wins since 2013 and a 5.83 finish in the last six races there -- but it's no guarantee he lands back on his feet this weekend.

14. Austin Dillon (--)

Season-high: 10


Season-low: Out


Comment: Drivers can sometimes squeak by in the Round of 16 with finishes that hover around the top 15, but in 17th, Dillon was really hoping for a better showing on Sunday at one of his best tracks. He'll now look to crack into the top 10 at Kansas, where he's only done so in five of 18 trips -- though he has in two of the last three.

13. Austin Cindric (-1)

Season-high: 10


Season-low: 19


Comment: Cindric did just enough to not dig himself into too deep of a hole, and if he's able to just finish the way he did at Darlington the next two races it's possible he sneaks through after so many big-name contenders ran into bad luck. He just missed out on the top 10 at Kansas in the spring (P11) and has a pair of runner-ups there in Xfinity Series competition the last two years, so he could hold his ground or better this weekend.

12. Daniel Suárez (+1)

Season-high: 10


Season-low: Out


Comment: The No. 99 had one of the most up-and-down races of any car out there on Sunday, but it sure was fast and certainly capable of the win before an untimely penalty. It's unfortunate for Suárez. Though this doesn't necessarily mean he can't out-perform his past, he only has one top 10 at Kansas in 11 tries, and it was all the way back in his first start there in 2017.

11. Kyle Busch (-3)

Season-high: 1


Season-low: 11


Comment: Busch appeared late to be set to cruise onto the Round of 12 via victory before disaster struck at Darlington and he finished 30th. He finally landed his first Kansas win in 2016 (and added another one last year) so he could potentially be in position to win once again on Sunday.

10. Alex Bowman (+6)

Season-high: 5


Season-low: 16


Comment: Bowman picked a great time to land just his second top 10 since Charlotte, moving back into the top 10 in points for the first time since Atlanta as well. He capitalized with so many contenders faltering and has a chance to keep it rolling at Kansas, where he has eight top-11 finishes in the last 10 races.

9. Ross Chastain (-4)

Season-high: 1


Season-low: Out


Comment: One race down and no drivers appeared to derail Chastain as payback from a regular-season run-in, but the No. 1 team might be beating itself with a 25.0 average finish over the last seven races. Maybe Chastain gets it going at Kansas, where he picked up his first top 10 at the 1.5-miler in this spring's race.

8. Chase Elliott (-7)

Season-high: 1


Season-low: 8


Comment: This playoff system strongly weighs wins -- and strongly penalizes catastrophe, as the Regular Season Champion learned at Darlington. Elliott now finds himself in the back half of the playoff field after just one race, but did finish runner-up in this Kansas race last year in addition to a win there in 2018.

7. Ryan Blaney (-1)

Season-high: 1


Season-low: 10


Comment: Blaney scored a good-enough amount of points (34) at Darlington but was still shut out of the top 10 for the third straight race with a P13. He similarly hasn't finished in the top 10 at Kansas since fall 2020 -- his only top 10 there since 2018. There's some cause for concern that Blaney could drop from here.

6. William Byron (+5)

Season-high: 1


Season-low: 16


Comment: The No. 24 showed at Darlington more speed than it's had in months, and Byron led 50 laps en route to his first top 10 since Sonoma. With this newfound quickness, look for him to keep it rolling at Kansas, where he's averaged a finish of 9.0 the last six times out.

5. Tyler Reddick (+5)

Season-high: 7


Season-low: 20


Comment: Reddick is really starting to build a head of steam with his third consecutive finish of seventh or better, picking up at least 38 points in all three to move to fifth in the standings. Kansas should be interesting for him, as he finished outside the top 20 in each of the previous two trips there -- but led a total of 30 laps between the two.

4. Christopher Bell (+5)

Season-high: 4


Season-low: Out


Comment: It's early, but sure starting to look like Joe Gibbs Racing could be headed for another Championship 4 with at least two of its drivers, and Bell might be one of them. He gained a ton of momentum from a Darlington top five and now heads to a Kansas track where he won the pole and led 37 laps in the spring en route to a fifth-place finish.

3. Kyle Larson (+1)

Season-high: 1


Season-low: 9


Comment: Larson only finished 12th at Darlington and slipped to seventh in points, but the No. 5 team proved resilient and looked championship-ready with how hard it had to fight back to finish there. He's the defending winner of the next two races and you can probably just pencil him in for the Round of 12 now.

2. Denny Hamlin (+1)

Season-high: 2


Season-low: 20


Comment: Hamlin landed his best finish since Charlotte, hounding Erik Jones for the win in the closing laps and that No. 11 looked every bit of a Championship 4 contender in the postseason's first race. He'll be looking for his fourth Kansas win and third from 2019-on this weekend, and it's quite possible he gets it.

1. Joey Logano (+1)

Season-high: 1


Season-low: 11


Comment: Logano has seen his average finish grow weaker every season since wining the title in 2018, and yet here he is once again positioned as a serious championship contender in the playoffs. The No. 22 has led double-digit laps in four straight races as he's rocketed up to the points lead before looking for his fourth Kansas win this weekend. He won this race in 2020.