Power Rankings: Will Tyler Reddick ride the high line into Championship 4?
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NASCAR.com's Pat DeCola ranks the Cup Series Playoffs drivers after the Round of 8 opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and before the middle race at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Sunday, 2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
8. Chris Buescher (-2)
Season-high: 2
Season-low: Out
Comment: Buescher has done just about everything right this season and has finished in the top 10 in more playoff races than he hasn't ... yet is still at the bottom of the playoff standings despite a good run at Vegas. A win remains his most direct path to Phoenix, but it's more likely to happen at Martinsville than this weekend at Homestead, where he's never finished better than 13th.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
7. Martin Truex Jr. (+1)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 14
Comment: Vegas was obviously a disappointing race for Truex despite the ninth-place finish after a mucked-up pit strategy call that potentially might've cost him a win. There's still a positive takeaway — he led nine laps and landed his first top 10 since August. He now has an opportunity to carry that momentum into two of his strongest tracks in Miami and Martinsville as he attempts to snag a Championship 4 spot and avoid one of the more notable whiffs in NASCAR's playoff era.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
6. Ryan Blaney (-1)
Season-high: 3
Season-low: 15
Comment: Blaney and crew received some positive news Monday night after NASCAR rescinded the team's Vegas disqualification, which might be just the shot in the arm this team needed to make a run. Unfortunately for them, a win is much more likely to happen later this round at Martinsville than it is at Miami, where Blaney owns just one top 10 in eight career starts, and that was the only race he's led a lap there, too.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
5. Tyler Reddick (+2)
Season-high: 2
Season-low: 15
Comment: Reddick briefly fell off a bit after his Kansas win but has been putting things back together in a big way the past three races — just in time for the race he's going to have the biggest spotlight in. Reddick and Vegas winner Kyle Larson are the two most notorious wall-runners in the sport, and the path to the Championship 4 may ride right alongside the teal barrier. With Larson already locked in, look for Reddick to lead the way there Sunday and potentially battle for his first championship.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
4. Christopher Bell (--)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 15
Comment: Bell was unbelievably close to landing in the Championship 4 for a second straight year but instead now heads to Miami below the elimination line. Extremely tough break. At least for the No. 20 group, they continue to bring top-tier cars to the race track every weekend, and Bell has been solid enough in his three Homestead starts (13.0 average finish) that he could conceivably still win this weekend.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
3. Denny Hamlin (--)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 12
Comment: Hamlin rebounded from a rough day at the Roval with his fourth 40-point day of the playoffs but leaves Vegas in a bit of a precarious position at just two points separating him from the elimination line. Homestead stands as one of his best tracks on the circuit, however. So, chances are No. 11 isn't sweating it. Three wins and a 9.8 average finish certainly help ease the worry here.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
2. William Byron (-1)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 14
Comment: It really doesn't feel like Byron is bound to finish outside the top 10 any time soon, right? He's just been so solid the second half of the season, turning in yet another strong showing at Vegas to keep hold of the top spot among drivers still vying for a Championship 4 bid. He's a recent Homestead winner, too — spring 2021 — so he could make it happen this weekend.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
1. Kyle Larson (+1)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 11
Comment: Well, we certainly can't say we're surprised, can we? Larson is going to be a fixture in the Championship 4 for years to come, and the title is probably now his to lose (sorry, William). Giving crew chief Cliff Daniels two extra weeks to prepare for Phoenix is kind of a slam-dunk recipe for title success. It's extremely conceivable Larson now goes back-to-back as well as he's tremendous at Homestead and will be racing without any pressure on Sunday.