CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Three races remain before four drivers compete for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series title at Phoenix Raceway.
Those four competitors will come from the eight drivers still alive on the playoff grid. The three-race Round of 8 begins on Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Homestead-Miami Speedway and Martinsville Speedway are the other two tracks in the round.
At least one driver will qualify for the championship race with points alone. William Byron sits four points ahead of Ryan Blaney in the final championship spot. Joey Logano, who starts the Round of 8 in 8th spot, is just 11 points behind Byron.
Four former champions make up the remaining playoff field. All but one of the remaining playoff drivers have won at the next three tracks -- Tyler Reddick is the only one without a Cup win at the tracks but he does have Xfinity Series wins at Las Vegas and Homestead-Miami.
All eight drivers have a reasonable chance to make it to the championship race.
Kyle Larson
The closest thing to a championship favorite in 2024 has been Kyle Larson. The Hendrick Motorsports driver's six wins are double the next-closest competitor. He fell one point shy of the regular season title, mostly due to the fact he missed the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte.
Larson dominated the Charlotte Roval on Sunday and is headed to a stretch of races where he has been successful.
Las Vegas: Larson has won the last two races at Las Vegas in commanding fashion. He led 314 of the 534 laps in the two events, winning every stage in the process. He has three wins at the track and has finished in the top 10 in 11 of his last 13 starts. Larson has the best average Las Vegas finish (9.3) of any driver in NASCAR history with at least four starts.
Homestead-Miami: Larson has one win in 10 starts at Homestead-Miami. That win came in 2022 when he was already eliminated from playoff contention. He has two DNFs in his last two starts at the track. He is 8th among active drivers in average finish at Homestead.
Martinsville: Larson has improved in recent years at Martinsville after struggling for most of his career. He won for the first time at Martinsville in 2023 in his 17th start at the track. He earned just one top 10 in his first 11 starts at Martinsville. These early struggles leave him uncharacteristically 11th among active drivers in average finish but his recent success places him third among drivers in the last seven trips to the track.
Christopher Bell
The driver of the No. 20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing has a series-leading 20 top 10s and starts the Round of 8 in second place. Christopher Bell has three wins this year and has nine top 10s in the last 11 races. Bell's consistency should make him a prime candidate to be a championship contender.
Las Vegas: Despite scoring two poles at the track, Bell's Las Vegas races have been mostly forgettable. Bell has more finishes outside of the top 20 at Las Vegas (5) than he has top 10s (4). He is a distant 16th among active drivers in average finish at the track. He has shown signs of greatness at the track, though. In October 2023, Bell finished second by a few car lengths to Larson.
Homestead-Miami: Bell has the best average finish at Homestead among active drivers and is second all-time among drivers with at least four starts at the track. Part of that is attributed to Bell only having four starts at Homestead but he already has found success at the track. Bell won the 2023 race to push his way into the championship field. His other top 10 came in his rookie season when he drove for the low-funded Levine Family Racing.
Martinsville: The half-mile track has not been one of Bell's best tracks, but he did pick up one win at Martinsville in October 2022. Bell has just three top 10s in his nine Martinsville starts. He has finished every Martinsville race, though, even in April when he finished 35th. Bell has the 10th-best average finish among active drivers at the track.
Tyler Reddick
The regular season champion has struggled to find footing in the playoffs. Tyler Reddick has missed the top 10 in the last five races and narrowly earned enough points to make it to the Round of 8 with a daring comeback performance at the Charlotte Roval. Even with his poor recent results, Reddick begins the next round third in the points and hopes to get his first win at one of the remaining tracks.
Las Vegas: Although he has yet to find victory lane in Las Vegas, Reddick has some good runs at the track. He has five top 10s in his last six starts there, including a second-place finish to Larson in March. He has the eighth-best average finish at the track among active drivers.
Homestead-Miami: Just like Bell, Reddick only has four starts at Homestead but has made positive work at the track. Bell has three top fives in his four tries with a best finish of second in 2021. Reddick's only finish outside the top five at Homestead was the result of an early crash in the 2022 race that left him 35th. Even with the bad finish, Reddick is fifth in average finish among active drivers at the track.
Martinsville: This track has not been favorable to Reddick. He has just two top 10s in nine starts at the Virginia track, one of which came in April when he finished seventh. Reddick has finished outside the top 20 in four Martinsville races. His average finish of 19.3 leaves him a distant 17th among active drivers.
William Byron
After winning three of the first eight races this year, William Byron seemed like a clear championship favorite. A midseason slump dimmed some of those hopes but Byron's team has rebounded in the playoffs with three straight top-fives. He's won at all of the next three tracks and could secure himself a championship race slot.
Las Vegas: Byron is the last person not named Kyle Larson to win at Las Vegas. He has one win and six top 10s at the track. He's the fourth-best driver in the last seven races at the track in terms of average finish. Byron has the best average finish (9.9) at intermediate tracks over the last three years.
Homestead-Miami: Byron won the 2021 Homestead race after starting in 31st. His only other top five at the track came in March with a fourth-place run. Even with the win and three top 10s in his six starts, Byron is 12th among active drives in average finish at the track. This is largely due to poor finishes in his first two seasons at the track.
Martinsville: Byron has two wins in his last five starts at Martinsville. He has seven top 10s in his 13 starts at the track. Two DNFs at the track drag down his career average finish at the track to 13.8, which is eighth among active drivers.
Ryan Blaney
The defending series champion has not made a convincing argument that he will win another title this year but the playoffs afford him opportunities to hit a hot streak just like last year. Ryan Blaney has four DNFs in the last eight races but has finished in the top 10 in the races he has finished. He has just one win at the three tracks in the next round.
Las Vegas: Blaney is fourth among active drivers in average finish at Las Vegas. He has six top fives and 10 top 10s in his 16 starts. He has rarely threatened to win a Las Vegas race but compiles solid finishes at the track. His best Las Vegas finish came in March with a third-place run.
Homestead-Miami: A second-place finish in March is one of just two top 10s that Blaney has scored at Homestead. Blaney's average finish of 16.8 at the track places him 16th among active drivers and the worst on the playoff grid. He has finished every race he has run at Homestead, though, and completed all but nine laps in his nine starts.
Martinsville: Blaney has the best average finish among active drivers at Martinsville and the fourth-best in NASCAR history among drivers with at least six starts at the track. Considering Martinsville has hosted NASCAR races since the 1940s, that's impressive. That might make it a bit surprising to know that Blaney has just one win at the track, which he earned in October 2023 to grab some big momentum before his title win the following week. Blaney has nine top fives and 11 top 10s in his 17 Martinsville starts.
Denny Hamlin
Denny Hamlin's 19-year search for his first Cup Series title took a big hit when he lost the playoff points associated with his Spring Bristol win because of a mistake by Toyota Racing Development. Hamlin fell out of the top five in points because of the penalty and has not visited Victory Lane since. He's performed decently in the playoffs and begins the round eight points behind the cutline. Hamlin is the most experienced driver in the playoff field and has a strong history at the next three tracks.
Las Vegas: Just one of Hamlin's 54 career wins has come at Las Vegas. He conquered the track in September 2021. He has a best finish of fifth in the five Las Vegas races since that win. Hamlin has the seventh-best average finish at the track among active drivers. He has two DNFs at the track in his career, which account for two of the three finishes outside the top 20 at the track in his 25 Las Vegas starts.
Homestead-Miami: Hamlin has three wins and six poles at Homestead. Five of those poles came in consecutive years from 2017 to 2021. His wins at the track came in 2009, 2013, and 2020. Although he has performed well at the track, Homestead resulted in championship heartbreak for Hamlin many times when it hosted the season finale. He narrowly lost the 2010 title to Jimmie Johnson before settling for third and fourth-place championship finishes under the current format in 2014 and 2019, respectively. His only DNF at the track came in March after a late crash.
Martinsville: Hamlin was once one of the field's best racers at Martinsville. He won four of his first 11 starts at the track and had only one finish outside the top 10 in that span. Hamlin grew up in Virginia and showed up big practically every time the series went to Martinsville. But Hamlin's last win at the track came in 2015. He's still run relatively well at the track and has the second-best average finish among active drivers at the track.
Chase Elliott
The 2020 series champion has quietly scored the second-most points this season. Chase Elliott has just one win on the year but has run consistently enough to be in the championship conversation. Elliott has led just one lap in the playoffs and might need to step things up to make the championship field. He has won at just one of the tracks in the next round.
Las Vegas: The Sin City has not been kind to Elliott. He has just two top-10 finishes in the last eight trips to the track. He's 15th in average finish among active drivers at the track. Four of his 14 starts at the track have resulted in finishes of 32nd or worse. Elliott's best run at Las Vegas was a second-place finish to Hamlin in 2021.
Homestead-Miami: Elliott has never finished worse than 15th at Homestead. He has just three top 10s at the track but the stretch of solid runs places him second among active drivers in average finish at the track.
Martinsville: Just like Blaney, Elliott's lone Martinsville win came a week before he won the championship. Elliott's 2020 win at Martinsville boosted him to win the title the following week. He has 11 top 10s in his 18 starts at the track and is fifth among active drivers at the track in average finish.
Joey Logano
Alex Bowman's disqualification from the Charlotte Roval race gave Joey Logano a spot in the Round of 8. Logano narrowly made the playoffs with a fuel mileage miracle victory at Nashville. He won the first race of the playoffs at Atlanta but has had a forgettable campaign in recent weeks with just one top 10 in the last five races. Logano has won at each of the three tracks in the next round.
Las Vegas: Logano is tied with Larson and two others for the second-most wins at Las Vegas. Logano's three wins at the track came in 2019, 2020, and 2022. He has just one DNF at the track and two finishes outside the top 20 in 22 starts. Logano has the third-best average finish in NASCAR history at the track among drivers with at least four starts.
Homestead-Miami: Logano's lone Homestead win earned him the 2018 series title. He has just two top 10s at the track since then, though. Logano qualified for the Championship 4 field twice while Homestead hosted the season finale. He watched other drivers win the championship in 2014 and 2016. He is 11th among active drivers at the track.
Martinsville: Logano has five poles at Martinsville but has visited victory lane just one time in his 31 starts. His 19 top 10s prove he runs well at the track. He is third among active drivers in average finish at Martinsville.