Editor's note: This is the fifth in a six-part series unveiling the News-Journal's NASCAR power rankings among full-time Cup Series drivers.

Being popular won't help much when it comes to our rankings.

Apparently, neither does winning a championship. And winning it last year.

Yep, you'll find NASCAR's man of the people and the reigning king of the Cup Series here, just short of the top five. Not to mention a past series winner mired in one heck of a winless skid.

Welcome back to the Daytona Beach News-Journal's 2024 driver power rankings. Sports columnist Ken Willis and editor Ryan Pritt each listed 31 full-time drivers in order based on driving ability across short tracks, road courses, intermediate tracks and superspeedways. Then, an average was calculated, ties were broken by a neutral panel of fans and a composite list was built.

Rookies Josh Berry, Carson Hocevar and Zane Smith were not included.

So, them's the rules. Here's the list:

NOS. 15-11: NASCAR driver power rankings 15-11: Wait til you see who's up to 14! Plus, Bubba Wallace!

10. Brad Keselowski

• Car: No. 6 RFK Racing Ford

• Career full-time Cup Series seasons: 14 (2012 Cup Series champion)

• Career Cup Series wins: 35

• Final 2023 points standing: 8th

• Ken’s ranking: 7

• Ryan’s ranking: 12

• Average: 9.5

Ken’s case: If he doesn’t win at Daytona or Atlanta in the first two weeks, the winless streak hits 100. So why is he ranked so high? Because he used to collect wins by the handful, and last year he picked up the pace dramatically in Year 2 as driver-owner. He’s not only entering a new season, but now entering his 40s, and oftentimes ages 40-45 are productive years for top-tier racers.

Ryan’s reasoning: Look, the road-course thing still bothers me. He has just 11 top 10s in 42 such starts. But what he's done, in pulling this organization to relevance, has been astounding. The Daytona 500 owes him one, and spoiler alert, he'll be my pick. If he can get one early, look out. Should RFK have the same speed it had last season, he can compete with anyone.

9. Ryan Blaney

• Car: No. 12 Team Penske Ford

• Career full-time Cup Series seasons: 8 (2023 Cup Series champion)

• Career Cup Series wins: 10

• Final 2023 points standing: 1st

• Ken’s ranking: 9

• Ryan’s ranking: 8

• Average: 8.5

Ken’s case: Two of his last three seasons have delivered great numbers (a pair of three-win seasons and a championship), but his other six full-time seasons have fallen somewhere between decent and maybe a wee-bit underwhelming, given his tools. In, say, three years, I could see him listed anywhere between 1 and 15 on a list like this.

Ryan’s reasoning: If not for a mistake at Las Vegas in the fall of 2022, we could be talking about two-time-defending-champ Ryan Blaney. Yet, it's still hard to have him much higher than here. The playoffs set up perfectly for Blaney and teammate Joey Logano, and Team Penske has clearly figured out something. I'd feel better if he didn't tend to go AWOL in the summer months, however.

8. Chase Elliott

• Car: No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

• Career full-time Cup Series seasons: 8 (2020 Cup Series champion)

• Career Cup Series wins: 18

• Final 2023 points standing: 17th (missed seven races due to injury and suspension)

• Ken’s ranking: 5

• Ryan’s ranking: 10

• Average: 7.5

Ken’s case: You probably shouldn’t drive angry. Maybe not even irritated. But determination should be worth some extra horsepower, don’t you think? And here’s a young man who’s determined to come back in a big way after a throw-away 2023 season. Or at least you’d think that’s the case.

Ryan’s reasoning: Compared to Keselowski, Elliott's 34-race winless skid is downright modest. He won five races in the Gen-7 just two seasons ago, and I don't believe for a second that missing a few races last year suddenly made him forget how to drive. But something was amiss, albeit just barely, when he returned last year. It's there, but he has to show it, again.

7. Chris Buescher

• Car: No. 17 RFK Racing Ford

• Career full-time Cup Series seasons: 8

• Career Cup Series wins: 4

• Final 2023 points standing: 7th

• Ken’s ranking: 11

• Ryan’s ranking: 4

• Average: 7.5

Ken’s case: Would he have been top-20 on this list a year ago? He took full advantage of the uptick at RFK Racing last season. He never had a long run of poor finishes, got particularly hot in the summer, and got his first whiff of playoff racing. If his team improves yet again, he might reach the playoffs again but this time be listed as a legit championship contender.

Ryan’s reasoning: Last year's wins: Short track (Richmond), intermediate track (Michigan) and superspeedway (Daytona). Did I mention he's third only to Elliott and our next driver in career average finish on road courses? Last year was not a fluke. Buescher has waited his entire career to have a car to match his skills. He's not going anywhere, except maybe to Phoenix for the Championship 4.

6. Tyler Reddick

• Car: No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota

• Career full-time Cup Series seasons: 4

• Career Cup Series wins: 5

• Final 2023 points standing: 6th

• Ken’s ranking: 6

• Ryan’s ranking: 7

• Average: 6.5

Ken’s case: It was two years ago at Daytona, in the days leading up to the season’s start. When asked which young racer is most likely to step up his game. Everyone who was asked mentioned Tyler Reddick, and guess what, he won three times that year and twice more last year. His road-course prowess alone practically makes him a playoff lock for years to come.

Ryan’s reasoning: He needs to shore up his short-track acumen, where he has but one top-five finish in 20 career starts. But he's so damn fast everywhere else, and his upside is probably as high as just about anybody's. If he can figure out the small ovals and minimize unnecessary mistakes, there's nothing keeping him from winning championships. Plural.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR driver power rankings: Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski check in