The NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Championship 4 field is cemented after William Byron’s walkoff win on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.
Both Byron and Ryan Blaney were the class of the field over the 500-lap elimination race. The two playoff drivers needed to win in order to keep their title hopes alive and shared a tightly contested battle for the lead with fewer than 40 laps to go at “The Paperclip,” staying within a second of each other during the final run to the checkered flag.
Kyle Larson clinched the final spot in the title-deciding round by seven points over Christopher Bell. Larson qualified ahead of Bell, and the two searched everywhere on the track to outpoint each other and advance.
Both Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe clinched Championship 4 spots by winning earlier in the semifinal round, and despite having engine issues at Martinsville, they will fight for the Bill France Cup next Sunday at Phoenix Raceway (3 p.m. ET, NBC, Peacock, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App). Hamlin scored his sixth win of the season earlier this round, which also counted as a milestone 60th career Cup Series win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Fellow Joe Gibbs Racing driver Briscoe punched his ticket by winning a week later at Talladega Superspeedway in overtime.
In addition to Bell and Blaney, Team Penske’s Joey Logano and Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott were also eliminated.
Below is the list of drivers for the Championship 4, ordered by reset points.
NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Championship 4 field
1. Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 2. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 3. William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 4. Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
With the Cup Series title field now set, we have a full picture of all 12 drivers racing for championships next weekend at Phoenix. Here are the other two Championship 4 fields.
Race: Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET (The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
1. Connor Zilisch, No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet 2. Justin Allgaier, No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet 3. Jesse Love, No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 4. Justin Allgaier, No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet
Race: Friday, 7:30 p.m. ET (FS1, MRN Radio, NASCAR Racing Network Radio)
1. Corey Heim, No. 11 Tricon Garage Toyota 2. Kaden Honeycutt, No. 52 Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota 3. Ty Majeski, No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford 4. Tyler Ankrum, No. 18 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet
Needing a Round of 8 walk-off victory for the third consecutive NASCAR Cup Series season, Blaney stormed from qualifying 31st to the front of the field before ultimately falling one spot shy of a Championship 4 spot Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.
Instead, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron scored the victory, keeping the Regular Season Champion’s hopes for his first title alive into the final weekend of the season.
“I’m proud of coming from where we qualified and getting to lead and leading laps and had a shot at the win,” Blaney said after Sunday’s 500-lapper in southern Virginia. “We did a good job and we got control of the race for a bit, but, gosh, [Byron’s] car was really fast. My rear [tires] started to go away pretty big on that long run and working through lap traffic, he was able to get by me. Then he got control of the race from there and his car was really fast. I never really thought I had much for him, especially as I think it got cooler. I feel like his car got even better, so he just had great rear drive and they were able to utilize it.”
Blaney, the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series champion, first took the lead on Lap 272, leading a total of 177 circuits before getting passed by Byron with 43 laps to go. A Lap 484 caution gave Blaney one last glimmer of hope, opting to go with a four-tire pit stop. However, Byron beat the No. 12 Team Penske driver and got the stronger restart with 11 laps remaining, winning the Xfinity 500 by 0.717 seconds.
The 31-year-old Blaney found himself in a must-win situation after a crash in the Round of 8 opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and a 23rd-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway last weekend. He won three times this season, going to Victory Lane at Nashville Superspeedway in the spring and later winning the regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway. His September victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway secured his Round of 8 spot.
“Going into this weekend, I just wanted a shot to win the race, and we had that tonight, and it just didn’t really play out,” the High Point, North Carolina native explained. “I know we gave 100 percent of what we had. Nobody left anything on the table with this group, and that’s all you can ask for. That’s all you can do. The 24 was just a little better than us and they got the job done, so props to them, but on our side, I’m just proud of the effort. We put up a good fight, but it just wasn’t quite enough.”
Teammate Joey Logano finished eighth, also failing to make the finale as the organization was shut out of the Championship 4 for the first time since 2021. Penske had won the last three titles, with Logano winning in 2022 and 2024.
“It stinks we don’t have a shot to go for four in a row for Roger [Penske],” Blaney said. “Roger was here tonight and I was really wanting to see him in Victory Lane and celebrate it with him, but we just weren’t able to get it done and the championship streak at Penske ends. That’s the way it goes and we just have to re-rack and try to be better for next year. That’s all you can do.”
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — With a heroic, gloves-off drive on Sunday in the crucible that is Martinsville Speedway, William Byron earned a shot at the NASCAR Cup Series title and simultaneously saved the rest of the Championship 4 field from its worst nightmare.
Byron led three times for 304 laps — a career best for a single race — and beat Ryan Blaney to the finish line by 0.717 seconds after a restart with 11 laps left to win the Xfinity 500 elimination race under most exigent circumstances.
In a scenario under which both Byron and Blaney needed a victory to advance to the Nov. 2 Championship 4 event at Phoenix Raceway (3 p.m. ET, NBC, Peacock, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App), Byron passed Blaney on Lap 456 during a long green-flag run and held the top spot for the final 44 laps.
“Pass” doesn’t do Byron’s move on Lap 456 justice. By then, Blaney’s No.12 Team Penske Ford had begun to fade. Byron charged into Turn 1 to the inside of Blaney’s Mustang and knocked it up the track.
Byron rushed past, and Blaney never found an opportunity to return the favor. Hence, for the first time since the Next Gen race car was introduced into the Cup Series in 2022, Team Penske, the organization that won the last three championships, won’t have a driver in the Championship 4 — and the rest of the field can sleep more soundly.
“Damn, I’ve got a lot to say,” Byron said with a broad smile. “Things have a way of working out. God really tests your resilience a lot of times. We’ve been tested. Just unbelievable.
“I’m out of breath. Thank you, fans, for coming out. Badass crowd. I watched my first NASCAR race up there just before the start/finish line. Man, I am just so thankful, excited to see my family, just celebrate this one.
“We obviously go to Phoenix. Just go try to kick ass there.”
NASCAR Creative Design
Blaney, who went to Victory Lane to congratulate the race winner, had no issue with Byron’s winning move.
“Yeah, I look back on that long run before the last yellow where William got by me,” said Blaney, who qualified 31st and methodically worked his way through the field. “I just got loose, trying to work through that. My rear drive was fading quick. I tried to manage a lot in the beginning. Yeah, just was starting to fade.
“I was trying to protect. I mean, that’s just two guys going for it. I don’t blame him for taking that. I had kind of lost momentum. I would have done the same thing, to be honest with you. I knew it was going to be tight. I tried to crowd as much as I could.”
Byron’s victory in a must-win situation knocked seventh-place finisher Christopher Bell out of the championship race. Bell came to Martinsville 37 points above the elimination line and one point ahead of Kyle Larson, but Larson, who finished fifth, outscored Bell on Sunday and claimed the final Championship 4 berth by seven points.
Also eliminated were third-place finisher Chase Elliott and reigning series champion Joey Logano, who ran eighth.
Larson and Byron will represent Hendrick Motorsports against Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe in the season finale. Hamlin and Briscoe already had qualified for the title race with victories in the Round of 8, but both experienced apparent engine failures at Martinsville.
“We had good enough track position all day,” said Larson, who ran a problem-free race. “We were kind of out of the mess, I guess. Yeah, that was good. My HendrickCars.com Chevy was fast. Our pit crew was on it all night.
“What a performance by William. That’s awesome. I think when the 12 (Blaney) gained control of the race, it was going to be really hard for anybody to beat him. William did a great job on the restarts, just kept positioning himself. Was good enough to get by him on that long run.”
Byron dominated Stage 1 from the pole, leading 126 of the 130 laps. He surrendered the top spot only once, under caution on Lap 30 after a tangle in Turn 2 when Michael McDowell got the lead on an ill-fated two-tire call.
Byron charged past McDowell moments after the subsequent Lap 36 restart and led the remaining 95 laps of the stage. After the break, he was first off pit road under caution and still at the point when Stage 2 went green on Lap 141.
The driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet led all 130 laps in Stage 2, but a caution on Lap 242 changed the tenor of the race. Blaney was one of seven lead-lap drivers who pitted on Lap 245, and after Byron came to pit road during the stage break, Blaney lined up second beside Tyler Reddick for a restart on Lap 272.
Blaney soon had the lead and control of the race — and maintained it until Byron made the winning pass on Lap 457.
The final restart after Carson Hocevar’s third spin of the afternoon was academic. Byron pulled away and wasn’t challenged over the final 11 laps. Even Blaney was impressed.
“Thought I got a good restart, the last one,” said Blaney, who led 177 laps. “Kind of entered up top, tried to carry speed and he just motored right around me on the bottom. Pretty impressive.
“Just proud of the effort,” added Blaney, who had won the previous two fall playoff races at Martinsville. “A shame we’re not going to Phoenix as part of the Championship 4. We’ll be doing the best we can to finish the year out strong. But I’m just proud of the 12 guys. They gave 100 percent of what they had. That’s all you can ask for.
“Wasn’t quite enough tonight. We’ll just move on.”
Non-playoff drivers Ross Chastain and Ryan Preece ran fourth and sixth, respectively. Todd Gilliland and Josh Berry were ninth and 10th.
Note: Inspection in the Cup Series garage was completed without issue, confirming Byron as the winner and making the Championship 4 field official. No cars will return to the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina for further evaluation.
Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin both went behind the wall with apparent engine issues during the final stage of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs race at Martinsville Speedway.
Briscoe first reported problems, slowing down the frontstretch at Lap 296 from the 14th position. Fewer than 40 laps later, smoke billowed out of Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota from the second position. Riley Herbst also had an apparent engine issue in the No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota.
“Obviously something major, mechanical,” Hamlin told reporters after his race came to a premature end. “I don’t know, just because the engine simply shut all the way off. If it was a blowup, it’d be the first one that was like that, where, no noises, no anything, just the engine actually cuts off. But I don’t know. Way too early to speculate.”
Both drivers are already locked into next Sunday’s Championship 4 race at Phoenix Raceway (3 p.m. ET, NBC, Peacock, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) via wins earlier in the Round of 8. Hamlin won at Las Vegas Motor Speedway two weeks ago, a victory that doubled as his 60th in the Cup Series. Briscoe was the winner last weekend at Talladega, surviving overtime for his third win of the season in the No. 19 Toyota.
“No indication. I was just running around there,” Briscoe explained. “I felt really good about coming here and where we were at and racing with [Kyle] Larson there, and went to upshift and something happened. I’m not really sure; it’s unfortunate. We’ll go on to next week, and that [issue] won’t matter anyway.”
For Hamlin, it’s his third DNF of the season related to engine issues. He expressed concern last weekend at Talladega about mechanical problems and also had an issue with his starter during qualifying Saturday at Martinsville. Hamlin wasn’t sure if Sunday’s issue was connected to Saturday’s, nor if he had the same issue as Briscoe.
“I could be worried, but I can’t do anything about it, so I’m still optimistic,” said Hamlin when asked if he’s uneasy about a potential failure during the championship event at Phoenix. “We’re gonna put our best foot forward, and hopefully, it’s enough next week. That’s all I can do.
“Our performance is good. We’re up front. As long as we can keep it together, we’re fast and capable … I’ve said, come one, come all. I think that I’m gonna have to win next week if I’m gonna win the championship, and we’re gonna come prepared for that.”
If Hamlin were to win the title, it would be the first of his future Hall of Fame career. He enters Phoenix as the winningest Cup Series driver without a championship.
William Byron won Sunday at Martinsville, punching his Championship 4 ticket along with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson.
Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe have already earned their berths to Phoenix, meaning there are still two spots up for grabs Sunday at Martinsville.
Live NASCAR odds from BetMGM list polesitter William Byron as the race favorite with +350 odds, followed by Denny Hamlin (+475), Chase Elliott (+475), Kyle Larson (+500) and Ryan Blaney (+625) for today’s NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 8 finale.
I’m zeroing in on two drivers from this list of favorites, as well as a 20-1 longer-shot pick for my best bets for Martinsville.
NASCAR Odds, Best Bet Pick for Talladega
*Odds as of Sunday morning
Let’s jump right in with my top two favorites to bet for Sunday’s race.
I’m not breaking any news by saying I like Hamlin to win today’s race.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has six career Cup Series wins at Martinsville, including earlier this season.
But what really caught my eye was an interview with Hamlin during Saturday’s on-track activity.
In that interview, Hamlin mentioned that the left-rear tires were burning off in practice, just as they did 15 years ago.
Very few drivers in today’s field were in the Cup Series 15 years ago, and considering Hamlin notched four wins at this track from 2008-2010, he’ll have the best idea of how to save tires to ensure long-run speed.
Blaney is known for having pace on long runs at Martinsville and appears to have it again this weekend.
The No. 12 Ford posted the third-fastest 20- and 25-lap averages in practice on Saturday, but Blaney didn’t do himself any favors after qualifying a disappointing 31st for today’s race.
However, Blaney has won the past two playoff races at Martinsville, and while he didn’t start as deep as 31st on the grid, both of those wins came with starting positions outside of the top 10, so I’m willing to buy low(er) on the Team Penske driver despite his poor qualifying effort.
Wallace has repeatedly said that Martinsville is among his favorite tracks, and he has backed that up with finishes of eighth, ninth, 11th, fourth, 18th and third over his last six races at this circuit.
Wallace appears to have a race pace in his career as well this weekend, ranking fourth in 20- and 25-lap averages and second in the 30-lap average in practice.
Editor’s note: Race projections were updated after Saturday’s practice and qualifying sessions.
It all comes down to Martinsville Speedway if you want to make the Championship 4. The penultimate race of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season is always one for the books, and Sunday’s event (2 p.m. ET, NBC, Peacock, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) should be no different.
Joe Gibbs Racing has the high ground after Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe snagged half the tickets punched for Phoenix to race for the Bill France Cup so far, and teammate Christopher Bell is the highest in points of the remaining playoff drivers without a win. However, lurking beneath the surface are four hungry drivers with accomplished pedigrees at the Virginia short track, all looking to win their way in walk-off fashion to make it to the Championship 4.
Will the fall Martinsville trend of favoring walk-off winners continue, or will Hamlin sweep the year at his home track? Before cars hit the half-mile, let’s dig a little deeper with stats provided by Racing Insights.
All eight playoff drivers fill out the top eight projected finishing results, with Hamlin predicted to back up his victory at Martinsville in the spring. It makes sense as Hamlin has a whopping 9.8 average finish at the short track across 39 starts and has led 100 or more laps in five of the last nine Cup races there. He’s also scored top fives in five of the last six events, bookended by that March triumph.
However, having punched his ticket to the Championship 4 already with his 60th career win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway two weeks ago, it’s tough to see the No. 11 driver focus on Sunday with all eyes toward going for that elusive Cup title a week later.
Looking at prior years with Martinsville as the cutoff race in the semifinal round, only one driver has finished inside the top five at the track after winning earlier in the round — that was Joey Logano with a third-place result in the 2020 fall race. With no added incentive except for a grandfather clock added to his home decor, you may want to look elsewhere for a winner on Sunday.
Hello, Ryan Blaney — once again. Only one time has a driver not won from beneath the cutline at Martinsville to reach the Championship 4, and that was non-playoff driver Alex Bowman in 2021. The No. 12 Team Penske driver is responsible for the last two Martinsville playoff victories, the first of which culminated in his crowning as series champion in 2023. Blaney’s had a rough go of it since his New Hampshire victory to make the Round of 8. He’s finished outside the top 10 in every race since, with a best finish of 13th at the Charlotte Roval. But the Martinsville numbers are very good for Blaney, as he’s finished no worse than 11th dating all the way back to the spring of 2019.
William Byron, Chase Elliott and Logano are all below the Championship 4 cutline as well, and all are prior Martinsville winners, most recently the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports driver in the spring of 2024.
Byron is due some luck after a pit stop without warning from Ty Dillon in front of him derailed him at Las Vegas, and a last-lap spin through the tri-oval at Talladega stymied him to must-win territory at Martinsville, down 36 points to teammate Kyle Larson.
After a string of tepid runs at Martinsville from 2021-2023, Elliott has gotten hot at the short track with three consecutive top fives. He knows a thing or two about winning in walk-off fashion, as he won the 2020 fall race that culminated in his lone Cup title.
As for Logano, you can’t count him out either. The three-time series champ is a top-10 machine at Martinsville. His last result outside the top 10 at the Virginia track? The spring of 2019.
BUBBA WALLACE: In the Gen 7 car, Wallace has been quite good at Martinsville with an average finish of 9.9. He’s finished fourth or better in two of the last three races at the track.
ROSS CHASTAIN: The No. 1 Trackhouse Racing driver has a well-known history at Martinsville, most notably the iconic “Hail Melon” move out of desperation that sent Chastain to the Championship 4 in 2022. Chastain enters the short track looking for his third straight top 10.
RYAN PREECE: The driver of the No. 60 RFK Racing Ford is starting to build some momentum going into 2026. He plated top 10s at the Roval and Las Vegas before coming home 15th at Talladega. Martinsville is a place where the short-track ace feels at home, and he’s coming off a seventh-place run in the spring.
TODD GILLILAND: The fourth-year Cup driver hasn’t had the season he would have wanted, but broke through with a career-best runner-up performance at Talladega. Gilliland isn’t too shabby at Martinsville with a pair of top 10s — most recently in the spring.
AUSTIN DILLON: It was a swift exit from the playoffs, but Dillon has a knack for strong performances at short tracks. He owns a third-place finish at Martinsville in the Gen 7 car (2022) and finished seventh in the playoff race last fall.
RACING INSIGHTS’ PROJECTIONS FOR XFINITY 500:
Racing Insights’ advanced statistical formula incorporates current track, track type, recent performance, team data and pit-crew data to predict a projected winner and provide full race results. Updated on race day with practice and qualifying factored in.
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — The message to Sammy Smith from the No. 8 JR Motorsports radio was delivered loud and clear. That over-the-air signal was a reminder of the fray that exploded on the last lap during the NASCAR Xfinity Series’ most recent trip to Martinsville Speedway, a fracas that he was in the middle of, again with rival Taylor Gray in front of him.
“We’ll go kick his ass the right way this time,” the No. 8 radio crackled.
Those kicking plans unraveled on a notably civil last lap of Saturday night’s Round of 8 finale in the Xfinity Series Playoffs, and so did Smith’s hopes of reaching the Championship 4 grid and a title shot in next Saturday’s season-ending race at Phoenix Raceway. Gray scooted away to his first victory in the series, but Smith followed through on the “right way” part of the scenario, taking a clean runner-up finish instead of an overly aggressive bump-and-run tactic that could have propelled him to the win and a Champ 4 berth.
“I wasn’t close enough to move him the right way,” Smith said post-race, “and if I move him like I did this spring, I’m going to get blackballed and get thrown out of the playoffs anyway, so I’m probably parked. Obviously, I didn’t want to do it that way anyway, and he was the better car today.”
Moving on instead to the championship race were Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love and JR Motorsports’ Carson Kvapil, two drivers who advanced on the basis of points after rocky evenings on the track. They’ll vie for the Xfinity Series crown with JRM’s Connor Zilisch, this year’s top rookie, and Justin Allgaier, the defending series champion.
Joining Smith on the wrong side of the elimination line were Joe Gibbs Racing’s Brandon Jones, who ended up four points behind Kvapil as the first driver out, and Haas Factory Team stablemates Sam Mayer and Sheldon Creed further back.
For Gray, the win was a measure of redemption for a pair of recent hard-knock losses at the 0.526-mile Martinsville track. Gray missed out on the Championship 4 in the Craftsman Truck Series after a run-in with Christian Eckes here last fall, then was slammed by Smith in the final lap in the springtime Xfinity show — both incidents that sparked heated post-race confrontations.
Gray said he was cognizant of their dust-up last March as the laps ticked down, and told reporters that the two had talked in the months since. “I’m not cool with him, though, if that’s what you’re asking, no,” Gray said. “And I think he knew better. I think he knew that he was gonna get himself in a fight if he wrecked me. So yeah, I think he probably played this one out a little smarter in his head than last time.”
Love and Kvapil were left with some sense of relief after both reached the Championship 4 field for the first time. Love entered the race with a comfortable 40-point advantage in the playoff standings, but two key pit-stop miscues and a resulting 23rd-place finish cost him a significant chunk of his cushion.
Love sped in the final section of pit road during his first stop of the race, knocking him to 30th in the running order early on. A Stage 2 pit stop brought more heartache when an errant tire rolled into the pit box behind Love’s, drawing an equipment interference penalty and dropping him to 36th in the 38-car field. “We’re not going to let it get us down here,” No. 2 crew chief Danny Stockman told his team over the radio after the second infraction. “We’ve got to (expletive) clean it up — everybody.”
Though he fell a lap down at one point, Love held on and advanced by an 18-point margin.
“It’s a relief, but not to say you ever take it for granted, but I expected coming in here to be moving on to Phoenix,” Love said, “and didn’t expect for it to be as blue collar of a night as it was, but I know that we’ll be good at Phoenix. I know it’s my best race track. I know this place is my worst race track, and I never like coming here, so I’m glad I can say sayonara until March next year.”
Kvapil recovered from a spinout on the 227th of 253 laps that threatened to upend his playoff course. Andrew Overstreet, crew chief for Kvapil’s No. 1 Chevrolet, opted to keep his driver on the track during a cycle of pit stops after a Lap 92 caution. That move helped Kvapil inherit the lead and hang on for a Stage 2 win and bank 10 crucial points in the standings to help his cause.
Kvapil was 13 points up as the final stage ticked down, but his spin in close-quarters racing with Ryan Sieg and pole-starter Harrison Burton left him in 30th place and staring down a sudden seven-point deficit. From there, the short-track ace rallied with some encouragement over the No. 1 team radio: “You’re faster than all these cars. Take no prisoners.”
Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media
Some 20 laps later, Kvapil had made up 12 spots to secure an 18th-place finish, advancing by a slim four-point margin and becoming the third JRM driver with a title shot next weekend.
“We positioned ourselves pretty well into Stage 3 before we got turned there,” Kvapil said, “and we kind of were in the situation where we just needed to just finish where we were and just not make any enemies and just try to ride it out. I think we were ahead of (Love) at the time. I think he got his lap back, and we were gonna have to go forward, but we were in a way better spot than we were at the end. Just once we got put back to 30th, it was, man, you’ve just got to hammer it. I mean, you hate to do it, right? You hate to go in there and just hammer people out of the way. But I mean, with less than 20 to go, you’ve just got to do what you’ve got to do, right? And I know our car has the speed to do it.”
On the other side of the four-point difference was Jones, who netted 11 points in the stages but wound up two positions short of a Champ 4-clinching victory.
“Struggled with the car a little bit throughout the race as well,” Jones said. “I mean, I don’t think by far we were anywhere capable of driving, taking the lead, going to win the race by just straight-up, real battle. We were good enough to go and be competitive to maybe take advantage of somebody’s mistakes, but I don’t know. All in all, we still have a little bit of work to clean up here. We’ve got some things that we can continue to make better, in my opinion. So I’m happy for Taylor. I’m happy to for him to get his first win. He’s been working hard at it. I know he has. So if somebody is going to win it, I guess let’s let one of those guys get it. So dejected we’re not going to go run for the championship, but proud of all the things that we’ve done this year and we built.”
The Xfinity Series finale is set for next Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship 4 is set after Saturday night’s Round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway.
Jesse Love and Carson Kvapil clinched the final two spots to race for a title at Phoenix Raceway with respective finishes of 23rd and 18th. Both drivers had to overcome adversity throughout the evening at the Virginia short track as Love lacked speed and had multiple early penalties, while Kvapil spun late in the race.
Kvapil rallied late after his Lap 227 spin and gained more than 10 positions before the checkered flag to outduel Brandon Jones by four points for the final Championship 4 spot.
JR Motorsports drivers Connor Zilisch and Justin Allgaier already punched their tickets to Phoenix on points after Talladega Superspeedway.
Jones, Sammy Smith, Sam Mayer and Sheldon Creed were eliminated from championship contention at Martinsville.
Mayer expressed his frustrations with racing Jeb Burton. Mayer spun the No. 27 Jordan Anderson Racing driver after the checkered flag and shared pointed words about Burton on pit road.
“It’s a principle thing. He’s the worst person to race around in the entire garage,” Mayer said of Burton. “He has a reputation of being over his head every single week and this was a prime example of it. He just can’t take no for an answer and a guy with a purple spoiler racing for something huge, moved him out of the way and went on and was faster than him in the end, and as soon as he got back to me, he gave it the beans and tried to wreck me three corners in a row.”
Mayer’s Haas Factory Racing teammate Creed said he just needed a little more to compete for the win Saturday night to advance, ultimately finishing fourth.
“We just needed to be a little better to maybe be in the position the 8 or the 20 were in,” Creed said. “I’m really surprised the 20 didn’t kind of try to push the 54 up or even the 8. I thought he was for sure gonna try. To see a Martinsville finish end like that is probably good for the series. I think guys are maturing and I feel like all of us are just trying to race each other a little better, but I just felt like the 20 or the 8 could have maybe pushed the issue a little more there.”
The Xfinity Series Championship takes place next Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) and will be the final title race to take place at the 1-mile Arizona oval. It’s also the final race with Xfinity as the series title sponsor.
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Not only did Taylor Gray have plenty of reason to celebrate his first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory Saturday night at Martinsville Speedway, but he also made Carson Kvapil’s day.
Driving the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, Gray pulled away from former nemesis Sammy Smith after an overtime restart on Lap 252 and held on to win the IAA & Ritchie Bros. 250 at the 0.526-mile short track.
When Gray took the checkered flag, keeping playoff contenders Smith and Brandon Jones behind him, Kvapil had a place in next Saturday’s Championship 4 race at Phoenix Raceway.
After a frenetic drive from 30th place in the final 17 laps of regulation, Kvapil advanced to the Xfinity title race by four points over Jones and five over Smith. Kvapil joins Jesse Love, Justin Allgaier and rookie Connor Zilisch in the championship event.
Eliminated along with Jones and Smith were Sam Mayer, who took out his frustrations on Jeb Burton’s car after the race, and fourth-place finisher Sheldon Creed, who couldn’t prevail in a must-win situation entering the event.
The playoff drama, however, did nothing to diminish the effort of Gray, who surged into the lead after a restart on Lap 202 and held it the rest of the way.
Gray was driving toward a probable victory in regulation when Daniel Dye’s Chevrolet began spewing sparks and stopped on the track to cause the ninth caution of the evening and force overtime.
With a great launch on the overtime restart, Gray pulled away to win by 0.344 seconds over Smith and 0.650 seconds over Jones.
“(Crew chief) Jason Ratcliff, all these guys — the pit crew did an awesome job tonight,” exulted Gray, who led a race-high 52 laps in his 45th start in the series. “They give me opportunities to win every time I walk through the gates to this race track.
“I knew I needed to get a good enough launch so that I wouldn’t have anyone in reach of me heading into Turn 1. At that point, I knew we had a good enough car to drive away from the guys behind me.”
Last spring, Gray was in a similar position before Smith knocked him out of the way in the closing laps with such aggression that NASCAR penalized the driver of the No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet.
In Saturday’s race, Smith drove with more restraint in his pursuit, and Gray had his maiden victory in the series.
“I feel like we’re good enough to be in the final four,” Smith said. “We weren’t good enough in the playoffs to do that. It really sucks, so we’ll just regroup and keep digging.”
Love, who came to Martinsville with a 40-point cushion above the elimination line, suffered through an evening fraught with errors, including a pair of pit road penalties, and finished 23rd. Nevertheless, he advanced by 18 points over Jones.
Kvapil seemed secure in points until a chain-reaction collision involving Ryan Sieg and Harrison Burton sent his No.1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet spinning on Lap 227.
Kvapil restarted 30th and drove frantically through the field to finish 18th and preserve his spot in the Championship 4.
“That was probably the most nerve-wracking racing I’ve done in my career,” Kvapil said. “Obviously, we were sitting in a pretty good spot before we got turned around there…
“I think the sky’s the limit for these guys. Our season hasn’t been the flashiest … but you never know. It all comes down to one race and we’ve got a 25-percent chance of winning.”
Aric Almirola, who will battle for the Xfinity owners’ championship next Saturday against Allgaier, Zilisch and Austin Hill, finished fifth behind Creed. Jeb Burton, Mayer, Dean Thompson, Connor Zilisch and Modified Tour star Justin Bonsignore completed the top 10.
The Xfinity Series will crown a champion next Saturday at Phoenix Raceway (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). It’s the final race with Xfinity serving as the series entitlement sponsor.
NOTE: Post-race inspection in the Xfinity Series garage concluded without issue, confirming Gray as the race winner and officially finalizing the Championship 4. No cars will return to the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina.
Track: Martinsville Speedway Location: Martinsville, Virginia Track length: 0.526 miles When: Sunday, 2 p.m. ET Where to tune in: NBC, Peacock, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App Race purse: $9,797,935 Race distance: 500 laps | 263 miles Stages: 130 | 260 | 500 Defending winner: Ryan Blaney, November 2024 Starting lineup: William Byron on pole at Martinsville
Hendrick Motorsports’ Championship 4 prospects hinge on Martinsville
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Hendrick Motorsports has typically treated Martinsville Speedway as a friendly place, competition-wise. All four of the organization’s drivers have won here in the NASCAR Cup Series, and another victory Sunday would mark its 30th Martinsville victory — padding the team’s series-leading tally.
This time around, the stakes go beyond statistics, superlatives and the organization’s rich Martinsville history.
Postseason implications abound in Sunday’s Xfinity 500, the final race in the Cup Series Playoffs’ Round of 8. Four drivers will be eliminated from playoff contention, while the other four will move on to vie for the Cup Series championship in the season finale Nov. 2 at Phoenix Raceway.
How many Hendrick Motorsports drivers make that title-shot trip remains among the top questions for Sunday’s 500-lap showdown. William Byron, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson are all clinging to eligibility, but only two available spots remain. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe snapped up two berths with Round of 8 wins the last two weeks, so Hendrick’s count of Championship 4-bound drivers could be two, one or at worst zero, depending on how Martinsville plays out for the organization that has had at least one championship-race qualifier each year since 2020.
Hendrick Motorsports has five victories in the last 14 Martinsville events, but the two other operations that hold out playoff hope this weekend have made some inroads. JGR has also won five races in that span, and Team Penske has four Martinsville wins in that stretch, including two straight from Ryan Blaney in the Virginia short track’s annual fall clash.
All three Hendrick Motorsports playoff drivers endured varying degrees of hardship last weekend at Talladega, between Byron’s last-lap spin, Larson’s final-lap fuel flutter and Elliott’s Stage 1 crash-out. The organization will have at least one odd man out after this weekend’s battle. With NASCAR’s winningest team heading to one of its traditional strongholds, here’s a driver-by-driver look at each of their prospects, listed in order of their percentages of advancing, according to statistical clearinghouse Racing Insights.
Kyle Larson (81.8%): As the only Hendrick driver above the provisional elimination line (by a plus-36 margin), Larson holds the best hope of the three for landing in Phoenix with title dreams intact, and he bolstered that by qualifying third Saturday. He also holds a hefty history of strong Martinsville performances in his favor, including a remarkable series-best average finish of 3.2 in the last six races here, with top-six finishes for the No. 5 Chevrolet in all of them.
Larson is currently fourth in the playoff standings, just one point behind Christopher Bell. That positioning creates an intriguing subplot, with each of those two longtime challengers needing to stay in front of the other, protecting against another winner below the cutline from knocking them out. All four drivers below the cut are former Martinsville winners, so that danger is real.
Chase Elliott (9.6%): Elliott’s last-place finish at Talladega leaves him in the playoffs cellar, 62 points below the elimination threshold and needing a win to stay in postseason contention. Martinsville could very well be a welcoming place for that: His lone win here served as a late-hour springboard to his Cup Series title campaign in 2020.
“Things haven’t really gone the way that we want them to, and it’s easy to feel sorry for yourself,” said No. 9 crew chief Alan Gustafson. “But that just doesn’t do any good. There’s no real value in that. So I think everybody understands that, and I can speak for myself and how I try to influence a team, but I think you still have a lot of opportunity, right? I mean, we’ve got a lot of opportunity to come in here and race for a win, and it’s best to spend that effort focusing on that. And I’m excited to be able to do it.”
His more recent record here suggests that the potential is there again for the No. 9 Chevy team, which led the way in Saturday’s practice session. Elliott’s last three Martinsville events have resulted in top-four finishes, and no Cup Series driver has earned more points in that stretch.
William Byron (8.5%): The Regular Season Champion’s points advantage has taken a pair of hard hits in the Round of 8 — a fluke crash at Las Vegas that dropped him below the cutline and a last-lap Talladega spin that knocked the rest of the stuffing from his playoff cushion, leaving him minus-36 loading into Martinsville.
Byron has won twice in the last seven races here, but those results are his only top-five finishes during that period. He’ll have a clear view at the green flag Sunday, starting from the pole position after topping the qualifying pack Saturday. Making the Championship 4 field for the third straight year will hinge on him righting the No. 24 team’s course in a hurry; his two top 10s in the playoffs are the fewest of the current postseason field.
What do crew chiefs have in focus to win Sunday’s race?
It’s been 15 years since one driver has swept both Martinsville races in a single season, dating back to Denny Hamlin’s double-up in 2010, lending credence to the prevailing thought that spring-seasonal dominance here doesn’t necessarily translate to similar performance in the fall.
“Yeah, I think that’s been the same way for as long as I’ve been going there,” says Rudy Fugle, crew chief for William Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet.
This time, though, two key differences stand out. Teams will come to grips in Sunday’s race with a new, softer-compound left-side Goodyear tire, one that should promise advanced wear and place a premium on tire management and strategy. The race will also stretch from the springtime 400-lap distance to a traditional 500-lapper, with all three stages longer to match.
The move to softer tire compounds follows a recent trend, and this setup emerged from a Goodyear tire test at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July. Three months later, the combination is set to be used in much chillier conditions, with a daytime high barely cresting 60 degrees in the southern Virginia hills.
“It’s more just a wait and see, and we’ll see what the track temps are like and how it behaves when it rubbers in,” said James Small, crew chief for Chase Briscoe’s No. 19 Toyota, earlier in the week. “But obviously, same construction as what we’ve been using, but just slightly softer compound. I know the guys that did the Loudon Goodyear tire test, including (teammate) Christopher (Bell), they got a run on these tires. So we have some general feedback on how it compared to what we previously raced. So yeah, not expecting a huge amount of difference, just maybe a little more wear and falloff.”
A pair of 25-minute practice sessions in the cooler temps as Saturday’s sun set offered at least a glimpse. The track rubbered in slightly, and Byron speculated that warmer weather from a 2 p.m. ET start may help promote that. Hamlin gave the new tire setup a glowing initial review, saying practice felt like turning the clock back 15 years to a decidedly old-school feel.
That degree of wear and tire management will also be impacted by the length of Sunday’s race, 100 laps longer than when the Cup Series last visited here in March. In the spring, the stage breaks came at Laps 80 and 180 with the full distance at 400; Sunday’s event has stages ending at Lap 130, Lap 260 and a full 500 laps scheduled. With longer runs potentially in the pit-strategy mix Sunday, unloading fast or dialing in the setup quickly is paramount.
“It certainly does,” said Adam Stevens, crew chief for Bell’s No. 20 Toyota, “and then you factor in that new tire combination with the softer left side, you would think that they’re going to wear out quicker, and them wearing out quicker and then having longer runs, if you don’t have an opportunity in practice to run out the full 25 minutes and see how it really behaves, because maybe you need an adjustment or maybe the caution comes out because of some other reason, and you just can’t have a full understanding of that, chances are you’re going to acquire a full understanding of that when the race starts.
“We’ve seen in the past there, gosh, I can’t remember what year it was where I want to say one of the Penske cars started on the pole. This was not this era of car but the previous car, and we had some kind of tire change, and they got lapped on the first run. I think everybody was surprised at the degradation and the wear, and the track didn’t take rubber, and once the race started, you didn’t have a lot of tools to work on it, and certainly didn’t have any tools until the caution came out, and it really puts you in hang-on mode. That is a distinct possibility at Martinsville, especially with the temps that we’re going to have and a little bit of unknown with the new tire. So you hope that you unload close and you hope you have an opportunity to go out there and put 60 or 70 laps on your tires in practice and really develop some kind of understanding of what you’re really up against.”
The advantage we think it is? Typically, the first pit stall — the one nearest pit lane’s exit — is the prime choice for top qualifiers. While an unhindered pit-road egress is still a competitive edge, it hasn’t translated recently to victory since pit stall No. 1 is winless in the last 24 Martinsville races. That same span has also been a dry spell for pole winners. The last driver to win from the pole position (and the first pit-road stall) is Jimmie Johnson, who led 346 of 500 laps in the STP Gas Booster 500 in April 2013.
He may not be the favorite to win, but watch out for …
BUBBA WALLACE. The focus will naturally be on the eight drivers with playoff eligibility, but one of the Round of 12’s ousted pilots may have an opportunity to play spoiler. Wallace has finished among the top 10 in four of the last six Martinsville races with an average finish of 8.8 in that span, and he ran third in the Cup Series’ most recent trip here, capping off a 1-2-3 Toyota sweep. The 23XI Racing veteran has also won twice here in the Craftsman Truck Series, rolling to his first NASCAR national-series win back in 2013. He was also fourth-fastest overall in Saturday’s Cup Series practice. | See Wallace’s projected finish
Fantasy update
NASCAR Fantasy Live expert Dustin Albino provides insight for your Sunday lineup.
Five hundred laps around Martinsville is an eternity, but select Round of 8 drivers might need every one of them to be in the mix. Before turning in a stunning 31st-place starting position, Ryan Blaney couldn’t pinpoint why the No. 12 team has historically struggled to qualify well at Martinsville. Needing to win at Martinsville to advance to the Round of 8 will put Blaney’s long-run pace to the test. There’s a good chance he misses out on stage points entirely, but he had one of the best long-run cars, cracking the top three in 20- and 25-lap averages. That’s a category Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson dominated during practice. William Byron scored his third Busch Light Pole Award of the season and has moved into my lineup over Christopher Bell, who was grappling with his No. 20 Toyota during practice. I’m keeping Denny Hamlin out of my lineup with only one use left, and the No. 11 team also had starter issues when hitting the track for qualifying.
Lineup: Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, William Byron, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney Garage: Chase Briscoe
Our biggest pieces of the week — get covered for race day from all angles.
•NASCAR at Martinsville: Key info, qualifying reports and more | Read more • Bubble Watch: Three JGR drivers on the plus side of playoff picture | Read more • Paint Scheme Preview: Fresh designs set for short-track showdown | View gallery • Rivalry evolution: Larson on how competitive nature with Bell pushed him | Read more
• Hauler Talk: Martinsville a penultimate race worth monitoring | Read more • A legend’s legacy: Remembering Richie Evans’ Modified mastery | Read more
• Fresh grip: Goodyear debuts new left-side tire for Martinsville | Read more • At-track photos: Trackside sights, scenes from Round of 8 finale | View gallery
• Turning Point to Martinsville: JGR’s prospects for a Phoenix triple play | Read more • Power Rankings: Sizing up the eight postseason hopefuls | This week’s ranks • Neil Paine: Larson, Bell safe in the standings … to a point | Read more
• NASCAR Classics: Inside the video vault with Martinsville full-race replays | Watch now
• Playoff Pulse: Who’s hot, who’s not ahead of Martinsville | Read more
