October 18, 2019 | By Lee Spencer

Whose bubble will burst at Kansas?

Ryan Blaney went from zero to hero in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Playoffs with his 1000Bulbs.com 500 victory on Monday.

As Blaney admitted after the race, he endured a wide range of emotions over the last month, including the 24 Hours of Talladega. Over the course of the first four Playoff races, Blaney had accumulated just 96 points. Following his suspension failure at Dover, Blaney entered last weekend’s race 85 points behind leader Martin Truex Jr. and 22 points below the cutoff for the Round of 8.

The driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford was leading the race on Sunday when he spun coming onto pit road. Blaney recovered to pick up points in the first two stages, the first of which concluded on Sunday, the second of which had to wait for Monday in the rain-delayed event. Facing elimination, Blaney ended a 37-race losing streak to advance from the cellar and keep his title hopes alive—an incredible feat considering the inconsistency he had exhibited in the postseason.

Needless to say, Blaney was wound a lot less tight at Kansas Speedway on Friday.

“It takes all the pressure off,” Blaney said. “Going into Talladega after Dover, we were kind of in a must-win situation, I felt like, with how far behind we were. We either had to win Talladega or Kansas.

“Winning last week takes the pressure off this week. You aren’t biting your nails about points. You just go try to win the race to get bonus points for the next round. That’s the goal for this weekend. That’s kind of where our mindset is. It was a huge weekend for us last week.”

While Blaney’s stress level has dissipated significantly, that can’t be said for the four drivers below the Playoff cut line—Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, Clint Bowyer or William Byron.

Although Bowman is eighth in the standings on points, Blaney automatically advanced to the Round of 8 with the Talladega win and knocked the driver of the No. 88 Chevy below the cut line. Bowman, 26, finished a career-best second to Brad Keselowski at Kansas in May and still thinks about the one that got away.

Elliott, 23, is the defending winner of the Hollywood Casino 400. The victory was one of three top-five finishes for Elliott in his last four starts at the 1.5-mile track. He finished fourth in the spring. The driver of No. 9 Hendrick Chevrolet has three wins this season but finds himself 10th in points following an engine failure at Dover.

Bowyer would love to win at his home track. He finished a career-best second in 2007—21 starts ago at Kansas. Bowyer, 40, is still searching for his first win of 2019. He collected his first stage win last weekend at Talladega, but with a 24-point deficit to Joey Logano, who is currently sixth in the standings but drops to eighth after Blaney and Kyle Larson advanced, Bowyer needs a victory for his Playoff hopes to stay alive.

With Blaney’s win and Byron’s wreck at Talladega, the No. 24 Chevy driver is the new cellar dweller in the Round of 12. He lost four positions in the standings after finishing 33rd on Monday. Byron, 21, has two DNFs in three starts at Kansas Speedway. He started third in the spring and led four laps before finishing a career-high 20th.

Chad Knaus has been a miracle worker this year with Byron, who should win an award for the most improved driver. But unless the seven-time champion crew chief has some magic up his sleeve, Byron’s Playoffs will likely end on Sunday.

Even Logano remains vulnerable entering Kansas Speedway. The defending Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion is currently 18 points ahead of Bowman. A catastrophic failure on Sunday could end any chance of back-to-back titles.

“At some point no matter what during these playoffs you will be in a do-or-die moment,” Logano said. “Even if you have even the most smooth nine races you can have and you get to the Championship 4, when you go to Miami it is do-or-die. You win or you are out. You will always be put in these situations and I feel like as a team we are pretty strong in these situations.

“I feel confident. I feel good about this week. I feel prepared and I feel like this is a good race track for us in the past. We have won a couple of times here.”

Logano has two wins, seven top fives and eight top 10s in 20 starts at Kansas. He won his second pole in this race last year and led 100 laps before finishing eighth.

“After Vegas, we had a really, really fast car there and a car capable of winning for sure,” added Logano of his Vegas win. “This is a similar race track to that now with this 550 package the way it is. I feel good about that. It is still going to be a crazy race and going to be very intense on restarts.

“If you re-watch the race from the spring here this is maybe one of the best races of the year now here in Kansas. The restarts are just insane where everybody goes and tries to make passes on that curved front straightaway. It is going to be crazy for sure out there. You have to make sure you can control what you can control—the restarts and making sure you don't get any damage and things like that. Outside of that, you just do your job and you’ll be just fine.”