Power Rankings: Which Martin Truex Jr. will we see in the Round of 8?

NASCAR.com's Pat DeCola ranks the Cup Series Playoffs drivers after the Round of 12 elimination race at Charlotte Motor Speedway's road course and before the Round of 8 opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (Sunday, 2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

8. Martin Truex Jr. (-1)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 14

Comment: Will the real Martin Truex Jr. please stand up? I don't need to be the umpteenth person to point out that the Regular Season Champion has yet to land a top-15 finish in the playoffs, but to take it a step further — he hasn't even been a top-five finishing playoff driver in any playoff race thus far in the postseason. And yet ... he's in no way "out" and enters the Round of 8 in a better position than most. Typically we'd look at the former intermediate master and recent short-track wiz coming off a RSC as a shoo-in to make it to Phoenix based on the three tracks ahead, but that is far from guaranteed at this point. And perhaps not likely.

MORE: Kyle Petty: Will MTJ rediscover early-season success?

7. Tyler Reddick (+1)

Season-high: 2
Season-low: 15

Comment: Reddick was finally able to corral his first top 10 since a thrilling win at Kansas earlier in the playoffs but still has a bit of catching up to do as he enters the Round of 8 below the bubble. This round sets up tremendously well for him, however, and last year's fall pole winner at Las Vegas should have every opportunity to make some magic happen and look to make his first career Championship 4.

6. Chris Buescher (-1)

Season-high: 2
Season-low: Out

Comment: Perhaps the biggest remaining outlier in the playoffs — the other seven drivers remaining likely were on plenty of preseason radars as drivers with postseason legs — but that doesn't make Buescher any less capable of advancing based on what we've seen out of this team in 2023. Las Vegas makes for an excellent gauge of just how far he's come and how far he could go, however, as Buescher has scored just one top 10 at the track across 13 starts there for an overall average finish of 17.8. He's just under the elimination line entering the round, but it's a little tough to see how he improves his positioning this weekend given his tough times there and the bountiful races many of the rest of the contenders have had out west.

5. Ryan Blaney (-2)

Season-high: 3
Season-low: 15

Comment: One could certainly argue that of the two Ford teams remaining, Buescher has been the better of the two — and he has — but we're looking out the windshield now and not in the rearview. Though he enters as the driver on the bottom of the playoff standings, in a way all Blaney had to do was just get to this round, and he'll have a shot to make Phoenix. Homestead-Miami isn't the greatest track for him (one top 10 in eight starts) but Vegas and Martinsville certainly rank among his best, and given some recent speed he's seemed to find, it's totally conceivable he winds up punching an early ticket to the Championship 4 via a win.

4. Christopher Bell (--)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 15

Comment: After looking like the fastest man on the planet in the opening round, Bell did seem to have a much quieter Round of 12 — and still turned in an 11.0 average finish in those races. It does feel likely that we're bound to see a Championship 4 comprised of at least half Toyotas, it's just a question of if he'll be one of them. At this moment, it feels like he will be.

3. Denny Hamlin (-1)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 12

Comment: Of course, if there's one Toyota that feels like a lock to advance, here's your guy. And also, that said, if there's one driver that could pry defeat from the jaws of victory ... here's your guy. On paper everything is once again lining up for Hamlin  — who has nine combined wins scattered across all three Round of 8 tracks — to take part in his fourth Championship 4 in five years, he just has to ensure the round is completed without major hiccups.

2. Kyle Larson (+3)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 11

Comment: Hope you're ready to get reintroduced to Larson's dominance. No. 5 was another driver to breathe a significant sigh of relief to escape the Round of 12 — and probably a bit closer of a call than he'd have preferred — but the Round of 8 and beyond could be his to own. Multiple wins in the four remaining races is, believe it or not, on the table. Up first is Vegas, where he's been nothing short of sensational in his career, and it's a near travesty that there's only a '1' in the win column there for him.

1. William Byron (--)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 14

Comment: But you know, Larson might not even be the guy to beat in his own building. The 2023 championship, with four races remaining, is absolutely Byron's trophy to lose at this point. While not as eye-popping as Larson's double-digit wins and ridiculous amount of top 10s in his 2021 run to the title, Byron has been the most consistently strong driver this season and will be among the favorites in every race the rest of the way. We saw what winning Vegas did last year for eventual champ Joey Logano. Look for Byron — a winner at Vegas earlier this year — to perhaps do the same.