Power Rankings: Will Tyler Reddick’s luck turn around in time for Champ 4 bid?

NASCAR.com's Pat DeCola ranks the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs drivers after Joey Logano's win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and before Sunday's Round of 8 race at Homestead-Miami Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

8. Chase Elliott (-3)

Season-high: 2
Season-low: 17

Comment: Elliott's unfortunate Las Vegas result was hardly of his own doing, yet he's staring down the darkest remaining path to the Championship 4, essentially in must-win mode already. The 2020 champ is capable of winning with his back against the wall -- and did so in this round en route to said title -- but No. 9 hasn't quite fought for wins in awhile. He's been consistently strong enough to point his way through, but Elliott's lone lap led in the playoffs came at Talladega, and his spring win at Texas feels like an eternity ago. His overall Miami numbers are solid yet unexceptional -- he finished runner-up there in '20 but otherwise has three straight finishes outside the top 10 since.

7. Ryan Blaney (-1)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 12

Comment: Blaney played the role of teammate late at Las Vegas, perhaps sacrificing much-needed points after a dismal day at Vegas to help propel Joey Logano to the win and the Championship 4. Unfortunately, being a good teammate typically doesn't result in a championship, and Blaney finds himself once again in long-shot mode in the Round of 8 -- a familiar place for last year's champion. A remarkable run of three straight top-two finishes to close out his title run started at Miami last year, however, and there is not a reason in the world to think No. 12 is out of it at this point.

6. Tyler Reddick (-2)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 14

Comment: Reddick clearly had the capability to contend for the win Sunday but unfortunately saw his race end prematurely after briefly getting airborne in Stage 2 and taking too much damage to his No. 45 Toyota to continue. Reddick is one of a small handful of drivers to beat at Homestead, but there's legitimate concern here -- the Regular Season Champion has led multiple laps in each of the past five races but has just one top 10 and just two finishes better than 20th in the entire playoffs so far. Not quite the kind of luck that guides the way to a championship.

5. Denny Hamlin (+2)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 13

Comment: Hamlin's no good, rotten day at Las Vegas was exceptionally timed because it mostly boiled down to the first two stages -- where several contenders were derailed -- before he clawed back to a P8 and somehow emerged just one spot below the bubble. Still, a 27-point deficit in this round is difficult to overcome, but thankfully for Hamlin, he'll be among the favorites for the race win each of the next two weeks. Before Reddick and Kyle Larson entered the series, Hamlin was the guy at Homestead, dropping three wins and nine top 10s from 2009-2020.

4. Kyle Larson (-3)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 5

Comment: Larson had a similar afternoon to Hamlin, suffering through a comedy of errors before settling in late to salvage a decent day. He's in much better shape than No. 11, though, and likely still has a strong chance to point into the Championship 4 even if Homestead doesn't go well for him. Arguably the track most in his wheelhouse (go ahead and look at his laps led count) there's little reason to think he won't extend his cushion or win outright this weekend at such a solid track for him. But then again, you never know.

3. William Byron (-1)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 11

Comment: If there's a "Christopher Bell" of Hendrick Motorsports, it's Byron -- the even-tempered, unassuming guy that will just turn the jets on and kick tail every weekend. Byron simply isn't getting talked about enough following a ridiculous past four races of finishes inside the top five have him staring down a second straight Championship 4. Future champions don't come any more obviously packaged than the young No. 24 driver, and the 2021 Homestead winner could very well be hoisting his first Bill France Cup in a few short weeks.

2. Christopher Bell (+1)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 15

Comment: There wasn't a soul in Sin City who didn't know Vegas was Bell's race to lose, and honestly, he didn't lose it as much as Joey Logano and crew chief Paul Wolfe won it with an unreal fuel strategy. Point being: That Championship 4 berth was as good as his, and you could make a strong argument for him being the No. 1 driver this week despite one of his competitors already studying for Phoenix. He's still a near lock to make it there but now needs to find a way to clinch at either Miami or Martinsville. As the defending Homestead winner and the Round of 8 finale winner in 2022 ... you can feel pretty good about those chances and might as well pencil him in.

1. Joey Logano (+7)

Season-high: 2
Season-low: 20

Comment: Like, are you kidding me? Exactly what the entire garage thought might happen after Logano found his way into the Round of 8 ... happened immediately? Yes, and it's becoming clearer and clearer that the hype was real when "Sliced Bread" earned that nickname all those years ago -- he's an all-timer, perhaps on the verge of a massive third Cup title and certainly on his way to the Hall of Fame down the line. As previously mentioned, Logano is already deep in his Phoenix notes but still has a pair of races to run before the title is up for grabs, so it's all about trophies and momentum-building the next two Sundays. After once turning in five straight top-six finishes at Miami -- including a title-clinching win in 2018 -- another trophy is very much on the table.