Power Rankings: Can William Byron kick off playoffs with Darlington sweep?

NASCAR.com's Zach Sturniolo is back substituting for regular host Pat DeCola this week and ranks the 16 Cup Series Playoffs drivers after the race at Daytona International Speedway and before the postseason opener at Darlington Raceway on Sunday (6 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (+4)

Season-high: 12
Season-low: Out

Comment: A crash at Daytona wasn't the welcome back he was expecting after his Daytona 500 triumph in February, but that's just a blip on the radar now. Stenhouse makes his second appearance in the NASCAR Playoffs, starting with a track that's starting to treat him better lately. The JTG-Daugherty Racing driver has finished 13th or better in two of his last three starts at the track "Too Tough to Tame."

15. Michael McDowell (--)

Season-high: 14
Season-low: Out

Comment: A solid bounceback weekend for McDowell in Daytona resulted in a 13th-place finish for the Front Row Motorsports driver to cap a steady regular season. Now comes the hard part: Putting together a playoff run. McDowell's storybook win at the Indianapolis Road Course is his lone top-10 finish in the past seven races. Suiting up for his second postseason appearance as well, McDowell has fared well at Darlington in the Next Gen car, registering two top-10 results in the track's 2022 events.

14. Bubba Wallace (+3)

Season-high: 13
Season-low: Out

Comment: Mission accomplished. Wallace maintained the points gap expertly over the final two races and avoided a new winner at Daytona to qualify for the playoffs for the first time. His Darlington numbers are excellent lately, with a ninth-place finish in last year's Cook Out Southern 500 and a fifth-place result in the spring race this year. As the lowest seed entering the postseason -- and without a playoff point -- he'll need strong finishes in the first round to avoid elimination.

13. Ryan Blaney (--)

Season-high: 3
Season-low: 15

Comment: A big hit in the 'Big One' at Daytona left Blaney with his third finish outside the top 10 in the past five weeks. If there's any solace, however, it's that Blaney was leading when he was turned coming to the end of Stage 2. In 13 Darlington starts, Blaney has just two top 10s, but one of them includes the 2023 spring race, where he placed ninth.

12. Tyler Reddick (--)

Season-high: 3
Season-low: 15

Comment: After earlier damage in the 'Big One,' a 25th-place finish at Daytona put an abrupt end to Reddick's two-race top-10 streak after the road courses of Indy and Watkins Glen. Reddick has a great opportunity to start the playoffs strong, though. He finished second and third at the "Lady in Black" in 2022. Is the No. 45 Toyota primed to finish one spot better this time around?

11. Joey Logano (--)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 14

Comment: A fifth-place run at Daytona was a much-needed positive to the end of Logano's regular season. That marked his third top five in the last seven races in what was a bumpy first 26 races despite netting top 10s in 13 of those events. Sunday marks the start of Logano's title defense, though, and what better place to do it? The No. 22 Ford has top fives in three of the past six Darlington races, including a May 2022 win and a fourth-place run in last year's 500-miler.

10. Kyle Busch (--)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 11

Comment: Busch ended the regular season by leaving Daytona seventh on the pylon, his first top 10 since a third-place finish at Richmond. The summer was miserable for Busch and his No. 8 team at Richard Childress Racing, but that's all in the past now as a new postseason run begins. Darlington has been a place of struggle for Busch lately, with three finishes of 30th or worse in the last four races. But if there's any solace, it's that his finishes in six of the previous seven Darlington events are all seventh or better.

9. Ross Chastain (-1)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 9

Comment: Chastain's 17th-place effort at Daytona mirrored much of his summer -- out of trouble, but not in contention for the win either. A return to Darlington might spark a change for Trackhouse Racing's No. 1 team. He finished third in the 2021 Southern 500 and led 93 laps at the 1.366-mile, egg-shaped oval earlier this season.

8. Christopher Bell (-2)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 10

Comment: An unfortunate bump from Bell to teammate Ty Gibbs' bumper through Turn 4 triggered the 'Big One' at Lap 95 at Daytona, but Bell soldiered on for a 16th-place finish. Darlington has been kind to Bell in the Next Gen car, with finishes of sixth, fifth and 14th so far.

7. Kevin Harvick (--)

Season-high: 3
Season-low: 11

Comment: Harvick finished the regular season with top 10s in five of the last seven races, the only exceptions coming at the road courses. His numbers at Darlington since 2013 are almost unbelievable, with top 10s in 13 of the past 14 races. The only exception came in last year's Southern 500, when a fire eliminated him from contention. Another victory in one of NASCAR's most historic events could propel Harvick toward a storybook ending for his 23-season career.

6. Brad Keselowski (+3)

Season-high: 6
Season-low: Out

Comment: The RFK Racing contingent sprung to life in the waning moments of the regular season. Keselowski's runner-up finish at Daytona behind his teammate signaled his fifth finish of sixth or better in the last eight races, a stretch in which he led 142 laps. Keselowski is still searching for his first win behind the wheel as a team co-owner, but momentum is certainly with his organization as the playoffs brew.

5. Kyle Larson (--)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 11

Comment: The good news for Larson is he was running when the checkered flag flew at Daytona, marking the first time this year he didn't crash out of a drafting-style race. The bad news is he was still caught up in an incident and finished 27th. A playoff run begins this weekend at Darlington, where he and Ross Chastain collided during a heated battle for the lead late in the going. He's still searching for that first Darlington trophy, but with three runner-ups and two third-place finishes, it surely feels like a victory here is coming soon. Not to mention he's led laps (715) in eight of his 11 starts at Darlington.

4. William Byron (-1)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 14

Comment: The defending Darlington winner returns as the No. 1 seed in the NASCAR Playoffs -- and with two more trophies in tow, too, for a season-high five total wins. Byron's summer was a tad inconsistent, but he followed his Watkins Glen triumph with an eighth-place run on the high banks of Daytona. The driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet has a chance to snag the South Carolina sweep on Sunday with a win in Darlington.

3. Denny Hamlin (-1)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 12

Comment: Hamlin's good fortune in the summer race at Daytona continues to sour, with a pit penalty this year resulting in a 26th-place finish for the three-time Daytona 500 winner. That marked his eighth finish of 13th or worse in the past nine 400-milers at Daytona. Darlington, on the other hand, has been Hamlin's playground, with four total wins including a 2021 victory in the Southern 500. He was second a season ago to winner Erik Jones.

2. Chris Buescher (+2)

Season-high: 2
Season-low: Out

Comment: Holy momentum, Buescher. Three wins in the final five races of the regular season propelled the driver of the No. 17 RFK Racing Ford to the No. 4 seed in the playoffs. Before we get deep into the postseason, though, comes Darlington, where Buescher has three top 10s in the past five races.

1. Martin Truex Jr. (--)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 14

Comment: Truex is officially the Regular Season Champion. Last time that happened, he rolled to the 2017 Cup title. But let's get the horse back in front of the cart. Truex has led a combined 221 laps in the past three races but DNF'ed each time -- crashing twice and losing an engine once. If he can get to the checkered flag, Truex may kick off the playoffs with his fourth win of the season.