Power Rankings: Epic bubble battle looming for William Byron, Denny Hamlin?

8. Chase Briscoe (-3)

Season-high: 5


Season-low: 20


Comment: With multiple former champions already out of the playoffs and the sophomore No. 14 driver still in, he's playing with house money to a degree. The way Homestead played out for him was surely a disappointment, however, as he had a real shot to make it to Phoenix. He still technically does, of course, but he'll need to win Sunday and enters the weekend as the playoff driver with the second-worst average Martinsville finish (19.3).

7. Christopher Bell (+1)

Season-high: 2


Season-low: Out


Comment: After starting off by looking like the driver to beat the first half of the playoffs, Bell isn't thrilled to once again be in a must-win position to advance past an elimination race. The last one at the Roval obviously went pretty well — and he told me Sunday on pit road after the race that he feels "better about doing it at Martinsville than (he) did at the Roval" — but it'll be no easy feat to do it again, especially with just one top 10 in five starts at the Virginia track and just nine laps led in 2,404 laps run there.

6. Ryan Blaney (+1)

Season-high: 1


Season-low: 10


Comment: Blaney was doing everything right at Miami on Sunday to position himself to advance at Martinsville ... until he did one very wrong thing by spinning leaving pit road and turning a near-certain top five into
a P17. He's obviously not where he wants to be in the playoff standings (he mentioned Sunday after the race he feels he's in must-win territory despite being only 18 points out) and has never won at Martinsville before. That said, he's basically done everything but win there, turning in the best average finish (10.2) among active drivers so he should have as good a shot as anybody in the field to get it done.

5. William Byron (+1)

Season-high: 1


Season-low: 16


Comment: Byron entered Miami below the bubble, turned in a finish outside the top 10 after a pit-road hiccup by his team ... and leaves Florida five points to the good over fifth-place Denny Hamlin. Gotta love stage points. As the most recent winner at Martinsville — in a race he led more than 200 laps — he has to feel good about his chances overall about making it to Phoenix, but having to stave off arguably the best active driver at that track all afternoon doesn't sound like a walk in the park.

4. Denny Hamlin (--)

Season-high: 1


Season-low: 20


Comment: If you're wondering why Hamlin, currently under the elimination line, is ranked above Byron (the spring Martinsville winner currently above said line) it's solely because of his track history, with a whopping five grandfather clocks in his trophy case. All season long, Hamlin and Co. had to know that unless they won at Vegas or Miami, chances were high that he'd be fighting for a title spot at this very race and the preparations for it likely commenced months ago. It's extremely unlikely he won't be a factor in deciding the Championship 4 and there's perhaps no better driver among these final seven vying for three spots to take matters into his own hands and punch his ticket with a win.

3. Chase Elliott (--)

Season-high: 1


Season-low: 9


Comment: Elliott would've loved to have walked out of Homestead with a better finish than 14th, but the consolation prize for him is that it was still good enough to leave him with a somewhat comfy cushion of plus-11 to the elimination line. Now, if he's in the wrong place at the wrong time (which happens often at Martinsville) that could get wiped out in an instant, but he won this race outright in 2020 before going on to win his first Cup title. He's a champ for a reason and he's well-positioned to once again battle for the big trophy in Phoenix.

2. Ross Chastain (--)

Season-high: 1


Season-low: Out


Comment: It's honestly remarkable given the expectations before this season, but it would be a tremendous disappointment at this point if Chastain were to somehow be eliminated this weekend at Martinsville, where he'll enter as the highest-ranked driver in the standings who hasn't clinched yet. That said, despite his seeming evolution into a driver who his peers actually seem to somehow now enjoy racing around lately, it's possible his Martinsville race isn't entirely in his own hands, if you know what I mean. It adds an interesting wrinkle to the whole thing, but there's no reason to think he won't have a super-fast No. 1 Chevrolet and any potential payback-givers will have to catch him, first.

1. Joey Logano (--)

Season-high: 1


Season-low: 11


Comment: Logano continues to be the only driver not sweating his playoff positioning as the lone certified title contender at moment. He indicated after Sunday's race that he had the second-place car (despite where he landed on the results sheet, in 18th) and if Paul Wolfe is giving the 2018 champ cars capable of winning in races that ultimately don't matter to their championship hopes, you can only imagine what kind of ride he'll have for Phoenix. He still has one "for funsies" trophy to pick up this weekend, and his 8.2 average finish at Martinsville in the last 10 races there is second only to his teammate Blaney.