Martinsville Turning Point: What lasting moment will be made in Round of 8 finale?

Posted on October 30, 2024October 30, 2024 by Pat DeCola

Here’s what’s happening in the world of NASCAR with Homestead-Miami in the rearview and Martinsville (Sun., 2 p.m. ET, NBC) up next.

THE LINEUP

1️⃣ What lasting moment will be made in Round of 8 finale?

2️⃣ Is Martinsville going to be Hamlin’s race to lose?

3️⃣ Brad Moran discusses tires for Martinsville playoff race

4️⃣ Will Ryan Blaney pull off a second straight “Jimmie Johnson?”

5️⃣ Catch the pack — news and notes from around the garage

James Gilbert | Getty Images

1. What lasting moment will be made at Martinsville?

In a season — and postseason, in particular — full of jaw-droppers, it feels likely that the legendary half-mile will offer 2024’s latest historic moment.

Honestly, at this point, it’s hard not to feel spoiled.

The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season has seen a plethora of impactful moments, at a tempo that has only seemed to ratchet up once the calendar turned to September.

Tyler Reddick’s wall-riding, last-lap rampage as he stormed to the checkered flag and a Championship 4 berth Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway was just the latest entry in an overflowing bin of “holy $&*%” things we’ve seen on the race track this year, reminiscent of Ross Chastain’s “Hail Melon” at Martinsville Speedway a few years back, but on a track triple in size.

We now head to that same track — NASCAR’s oldest and most historic — and it feels inevitable that come Sunday evening we’ll be sitting back in our seats, in awe of what we’ve just witnessed and clamoring for more.

There is perhaps no track more fitting to decide which four drivers will battle next weekend at Phoenix Raceway for the 2024 Bill France Cup than a quaint, half-mile in rural Virginia.

Everything always seems to happen in this race, from walk-off wins, to video-game moves, to sunset-drenched proclamations of “goin’ to Homestead” to post-race shouting matches to interrupting a driver’s burnout and calling him a hack. It feels like we’ve seen it all at Martinsville, and yet it continues to surprise us.

Based on how things have gone for the past, oh, nine months or so, do we have literally any reason to think another memory won’t find a permanent home in NASCAR lore on Sunday?

“Martinsville is probably the perfect place for being an elimination race,” two-time champion Joey Logano told Ford Performance. “I know NASCAR thinks about this stuff when they put the schedule together and they look at Martinsville and think, ‘Everyone is gonna be really close to each other. There’s gonna be full contact. A lot of things can happen.’ You look at all the (elimination) races that we have. Bristol, cars are all over each other. The Roval, the tightest road course we go to and the cars are all over each other. Martinsville it’s the same thing, so you’ve got to expect drama when you go there. Some people will be in do-or-die scenarios and what are they willing to do?”

If a driver answers with anything other than “win at all costs” … better luck next year.

Apart from Logano and his fellow locked-in Reddick, no other Round of 8 drivers are safe entering the weekend, even Christopher Bell with his 29-point cushion as the top driver not yet clinched. A win is the surest way to keep your championship hopes alive a week from now, and for those below the elimination line, the history ain’t too pretty if they’re counting on making up that deficit.

Only once has a driver pointed their way into the Championship 4 when entering the final race of the Round of 8 below the bubble. Martin Truex Jr. did that from sixth place in the standings in 2021, and he only needed to dig out of a measly three-point hole. With everyone from Kyle Larson (fifth, -7) and on facing deeper deficits than that, he and Denny Hamlin (-18), Ryan Blaney (-38) and Chase Elliott (-43) should consider this nothing short of a must-win race.

The good news for them, though, is that this is a common occurrence — a playoff driver has won the final race of the Round of 8 when entering below the elimination line in 40% of this format’s history. And in each of the past five seasons, at least one driver from below the elimination line after the first Round of 8 race has made the Championship 4; in this case, that would be Hamlin, Blaney or Elliott.

Those three drivers have a combined 10 elimination-race wins in playoff history and are each formidable at Martinsville historically, so if you’re looking for drivers to keep an especially close eye on, it’s worth starting with them. Especially considering that of the three eventual Cup champs to win their way into the Championship 4 from below the elimination line, those are two of ‘em.

2. Is Martinsville going to be Hamlin’s race to lose?

The home-stater Hamlin has had Martinsville wrapped around his finger for a long time, but it might not be enough to hold off his feisty competitors.

“You’re not out of it till they throw the checkered flag at Martinsville,” Denny Hamlin said after Sunday’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where he left below the elimination line.

For now, Hamlin’s championship hopes are indeed dwindling yet still alive — but we’re a handful of days away from knowing if that’ll remain the case or if we’re a few months away from the perpetual slew of “This could finally be Denny’s year”-type preseason coverage we’ve grown accustomed to.

At times, it definitely has felt like 2024 was going to be the one (honestly, a not-too-unfamiliar feeling), and at times, it has looked, once again, like something would happen to snatch the potential of a first Cup Series championship from his grip.

With everything on the line at Martinsville and some recent spirited playoff performances, though — you can feel pretty good about him making his first Championship 4 since 2021. After that, who knows, but it feels like he’ll get there.

The Chesterfield, Virginia, native’s five wins are nearly as many as the rest of the playoff drivers have combined (seven), and while Hamlin and the No. 11 coalition are not immune to in-race mishaps and toe-stubbing, crew chief Chris Gabehart always seems to bring a fast car to the race track when his driver needs it the most.

Hamlin will undoubtedly be a factor, but what has made this Round of 8 so compelling is just the sheer magnitude of talent from top to bottom on display. If you want that Championship 4 spot, you’re going to have to really work for it.

“This is so, so intense and we knew coming into the Round of 8 with these drivers, we were going to have winners, winners and winners,” said Bell, the only back-to-back Championship 4 contender looking for a third. “Coming to Homestead, you look at the guys who run well here and you’re expecting a winner from the bottom half of the grid, and I think the same thing will happen in Martinsville.

He was right — Toyota teammate Reddick won from well below the elimination line after flipping a week earlier at Las Vegas.

While that descriptor applies to his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Hamlin, it also applies to Elliott — who’s riding a series-best six-race top-10 streak on short tracks, the longest of his career. And good golly, have you seen Hendrick Motorsports’ Martinsville stats?

Just to list a few:

• Only team to lead more than 10,000 laps at a track (10,852 laps led at Martinsville)
• 29 wins there are the most ever by a team at a track
• Won five of the last eight Martinsville races with four different drivers
• Finished 1-2-3 in April, the first 1-2-3 finish by a team ever at the track

With three drivers remaining, battling with each other (along with three other, less friendly drivers) for just two remaining spots, surely we’ll see at least one Hendrick pilot at the front of the field for a good, long stretch, and possibly all three. That said, while Hendrick has won five of the last 12 races there, JGR and Team Penske — the other two teams with drivers looking for Championship 4 spots — won the other seven, so it’s not a complete monopoly.

It’s also worth noting that Logano will be driving with absolutely no pressure this weekend and is sporting the longest top-10 streak he’s ever had at a track in Martinsville (10). It’s the longest active top-10 streak of any driver at the venue as well, so we can’t rule it out that he plays spoiler and takes away his competitors’ ability to take fate into their own hands with a win. Team Penske is just stout there, with Blaney in a great spot this weekend, too — his nine top fives at Martinsville are his most at any track.

And we obviously know what happened here last year.

So while the race feels like in some ways Hamlin’s to lose based on his history, there are plenty of hungry and capable wolves waiting to pounce on a Championship 4 berth, should they get the opportunity to feast.

3. Brad Moran discusses tires for Martinsville playoff race

NASCAR Cup Series Managing Director Brad Moran details the changes to the Cup Series tires ahead of the Round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway.

4. Will Ryan Blaney pull off a second straight “Jimmie Johnson?”

Four times did “Seven Time” win the Martinsville playoff race en route to a title — and once three years in a row. No. 12 has an excellent shot to become just the second driver to do it back-to-back, as winning at Martinsville often indicates a title is near. (Credit: Racing Insights)

Year	Champion
2006	Jimmie Johnson
2007	Jimmie Johnson
2008	Jimmie Johhnson
2011	Tony Stewart
2016	Jimmie Johnson
2018	Joey Logano
2020	Chase Elliott
2023	Ryan Blaney

5. Catch the pack — news and notes from around the garage

Power Rankings: Will Chase Elliott relive 2020 path to title, win Martinsville clincher?

Paint Scheme Preview: 2024 Martinsville playoff

NASCAR betting: 2024 Martinsville playoff race odds

2024 NMPA Most Popular Driver voting now open

Analysis: The 14 minutes that changed the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs

Hendrick heartbreak: Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott come up short at Homestead

Analysis: How Reddick bested Blaney at Miami – why No. 12’s defense didn’t work

Off into the sunset: Tyler Reddick’s final two laps from Homestead

Analysis: Tyler Reddick digs down deep, goes ‘beast mode’ in signature last-lap moment at Homestead

Larson battles back through Homestead hindrances, dips below elimination line after late spin

Kyle Petty sounds off on Homestead race: ‘What was the 12 car thinking?’

@nascarcasm: Fake texts to Miami winner Tyler Reddick

Updated championship odds after Homestead

Posted on October 30, 2024October 30, 2024 by Cameron Richardson

Ryan Blaney’s mind has fully shifted to Sunday’s Round of 8 elimination race at Martinsville Speedway, but the defending champ hasn’t forgotten about his final-lap, final-turn decision last week at Homestead that cost him a guaranteed spot in the Championship 4.

After grasping the lead from Denny Hamlin with two laps to go, Blaney was pressured by Tyler Reddick down the backstretch and had to make a quick decision on whether to defend the top or block the bottom to deter a potential slide job from the No. 45 driver and 2024 regular-season champion. Blaney chose the latter but Reddick ripped the fence on two-lap older tires to speed past Blaney in Turns 3 and 4 to steal the victory and punch his ticket to Phoenix.

It was a dream tug left at the wheel for Reddick while Blaney was left pondering what could’ve been in the hours after the race.

“I rewatched it when I got home Sunday night,” Blaney said. “I rewatched the whole race and rewatched the end of it and lost some sleep over the end of that race. I mean, it’s so easy to go back and watch it from the broadcast or relive it in your head of like ‘well, gosh, if I just would have done this different, it would have been a different outcome.’ But that’s easy to do, like, in the moment, it’s really hard to make the right decision. You’re making a lot of decisions every lap and I look back on that, and I talk about in some scenarios, whether it’s speedways or end of these races whether you’re leading or second or whatever, you’re guessing. In some situations, on what lane is going to be better, where the car in front of you is going to go, where the car behind you is going to go, you’re guessing. And sometimes you guess right, sometimes you guess wrong. I guessed wrong on where he was going to go.”

All sports, and especially in racing, require a lot of split-second decision-making. While looking back at the tape Blaney became a viewer, just like fans at home, asking himself why he made the choice to go to the bottom when the best move would’ve been to defend the top.

“I can only speak on pro sports because I am a part of one and I watch a lot of others, and it’s like, when I watch a football game, I’m like, ‘why didn’t he just do that?’ … In the moment, when you’re that person and you’re that athlete, or living in that time, it’s so much harder than being on the outside and watching on TV with all different angles and things like that. You’re making real-time decisions in the moment. You don’t have any time to like process, think about it, go through all the options. It’s boom, boom, boom. It’s all happening super fast.

“You’re never going to be batting 1.000 for making the right decision, the right call and that’s what the difficulty of sporting is, is can you make the right decisions? And how often do you make the right decisions? In my mind, going down the back, I’m seeing the run that he’s got down the back, and the timing of it, I’m like, ‘OK, I think he might pull a slider here.’ That’s what I kind of made my mind up on is that he was going to pull a slider and I was just going to kind of enter where I did and slide up the track. If he did pull a slider, maybe I can pull under him or where I kind of entered I was like ‘well, I’m going to cut a little distance off the race track here to where maybe I can still be on his outside if he did pull a slider and I can drive back around him.’ It was just the wrong move.”

Instead of having a fun, relaxed day as one could have at a tough track like Martinsville, Blaney will now have to fight for a checkered flag if he wants to keep his title defense alive as he’ll enter Sunday’s Xfinity 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) 38 points below the elimination line.

The upside for the No. 12 Team Penske team is that both Chase Elliott (2020) and Christopher Bell (2022) have won at Martinsville entering beneath the elimination line, proving it can be done. Elliott would win the title in ’20, and Blaney himself is the defending winner of the Martinsville playoff race, which rocketed him to last year’s championship.

Not only will Sunday be a physical hurdle for Blaney along with making the right adjustments all weekend long, but it also will be a mental challenge the rest of the week and until the season ends potentially to move on from how Homestead played out.

“I feel like the mental side is the toughest thing about our sport,” Blaney said. “It’s just how do you mentally stay in it and how do you adjust to what you need to do week in, week out and in the moment, and then for the future. So I try not to dwell on the past too much, and you just learn from it and move on.”

Posted on October 30, 2024 by Staff Report

For Sunday’s Cup Series playoff race at Martinsville Speedway (2 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App), Goodyear will introduce a new left-side tire compound as it continues to fine tune its tire combinations on short tracks this season.

Earlier this season, Goodyear introduced the option tire for the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway and was used again in the summer at Richmond Raceway. It was a softer right-side tire that generated more speed on the shorter run but wore out quicker than the standard tire during the course of a green-flag run.

Goodyear will use the option tire compound as the standard right-side tire for Sunday’s Round of 8 finale, while the left-side tire will be one of the company’s softest compounds.

“This year has been one of great development and advances on our short-track tire package,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “The option tire that we ran at both North Wilkesboro and Richmond has been designed to give the Cup cars more grip early in a run and have lap times fall off more later. We come to Martinsville with that same right-side tread compound as part of the setup teams will run, along with a left-side tire that utilizes the ‘softest’ tread compound in our tire lineup. Martinsville is a tricky track for many reasons — not only the time of year we race there, but also the layout with the tight, concrete corners. We had a good test there in August and came out of it with this setup, which is another step forward on our short track package.”

To get teams and drivers acclimated to the new tire setup, NASCAR will hold an extended 45-minute practice session on Saturday at Martinsville.

“We did some testing at Martinsville back in August, which has created a new, even softer left-side tire,” said Brad Moran, NASCAR Cup Series managing director. “All the tires will be new there. We do have the extended practice. They have an additional set of practice tires to do some adjustments. We sure hope it creates some interesting racing, and how it’s all going to work out, it’s one of those deals where we’re really not going to know until we get them all out there on Sunday.”

At Martinsville, Cup teams will get two sets of tires for practice, one set for qualifying and 10 sets for the race (nine race sets plus one set transferred from qualifying).

Posted on October 30, 2024 by Zach Sturniolo

Charles Denike will become crew chief of the No. 23 Toyota for 23XI Racing and driver Bubba Wallace beginning in 2025, the team announced Wednesday.

Denike, who currently serves as crew chief for the No. 19 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet with Christian Eckes in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, will replace Bootie Barker atop the pit box next year as Barker moves into a leadership role within the team’s competition group, continuing to help prepare cars and strategize for races at Airspeed, the team’s facility in Huntersville, North Carolina.

“23XI has been good to me, and I hope I have been as good for 23XI,” Barker said in a team release. “Loyalty is important to me and I will continue to do all I can in my new role to help everyone here succeed. I was fortunate to be a part of 23XI’s inception, and I look forward to being a part of the team’s continued journey.”

MORE: Martinsville schedule

Barker has served as the team’s crew chief since the final eight races of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, scoring the first career win for himself and Wallace at Talladega Superspeedway that fall. The duo struck again in September 2022 at Kansas Speedway, this time donning the No. 45, with their second visit to Victory Lane.

“Since joining 23XI, Bootie has provided Bubba and the No. 23 crew with the leadership and confidence they needed to grow into the team they are today,” Dave Rogers, 23XI director of competition, said in a release. “As we began to look ahead to next season, we decided that Bootie’s experience would best serve the organization in a different role based at Airspeed. His input will continue to be an asset to our teams. We’re excited to welcome Charles to the organization and look forward to getting started with him at the end of the season. He will be a terrific addition to the No. 23 team and 23XI as we continue to work to be better.”

In two years with Eckes, Denike has combined for seven wins, 23 top 10s and 33 top 10s in 44 starts.

“Bootie has meant a lot to me and the No. 23 team,” Wallace, driver of the No. 23 Toyota, said in a release. “We’ve been together for some special moments, and I’m glad he’s still going to be a part of what we’re building at 23XI. I’m excited to work with Charles and see what we can accomplish together.”

In total, Denike brings nine Truck Series wins on his resume, netting one each with Chase Elliott and Sam Mayer with GMS Racing in 2020. Denike’s career began in 2012 with Precision Performance Motorsports in the ARCA East and Xfinity Series as a team manager, according to the 23XI release, before moving to GMS in 2016 as a race engineer. Denike then moved to the crew-chief position in 2020 where he remained with GMS until the 2022 campaign.

“I am excited for the 2025 season with the No. 23 team and to work with Bubba and all of 23XI Racing beginning in the offseason,” Denike, a nine-year veteran of the US Army, said in the release. “Bubba is a proven winner, and I believe we will bring out the best in each other. Thank you to Michael (Wheeler, Sr. Director, Planning & Operations), Denny, and Dave for the opportunity to join the 23XI family. They have built an incredible culture at Airspeed.

“I am a believer that winning is a process. When you step foot into Airspeed, you see the tools and resources that it takes to win and are surrounded by people with the same vision and mindset. I am looking forward to this next chapter and to be able to contribute to 23XI’s growth and journey to winning championships.”

Posted on October 30, 2024October 30, 2024 by Staff Report

NASCAR suspended Craftsman Truck Series driver Conner Jones for one race on Wednesday after an incident in Saturday’s Baptist Health 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The sanctioning body also gave an L1-level penalty to the No. 38 truck driven by Layne Riggs for improperly mounted ballast.

On Lap 76 of 134 at Homestead, Jones hit Matt Mills in the No. 42 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet from behind with his No. 66 ThorSport Racing Ford and Mills shot up the track and into the outside wall. NASCAR responded by giving Jones a two-lap penalty during the race and then followed up with the one-race suspension for violating Sections 4.3.A; 4.4.B: NASCAR Member Code of Conduct in the rule book. That means Jones will miss this week’s race at Martinsville Speedway (6 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Mills’ truck was engulfed in flames, and although Mills exited the vehicle under his own power, he was transported to Jackson South Medical Center where he stayed two nights under observation for smoke inhalation. Mills was released from the hospital on Monday and Niece Motorsports revealed he was cleared to race this weekend at Martinsville.

As for the No. 38 truck, NASCAR officials deducted 10 driver and 10 owner points from that Front Row Motorsports team and suspended crew chief Dylan Cappello one race for violating Section 14.3.4.A&B: Ballast Containers in the rule book. Riggs, who finished 22nd at Homestead, remained in 11th place in the Truck standings after the penalty.

In other penalty news, NASCAR fined three Xfinity Series crew chiefs $5,000 apiece for having one lug nut not safe and secure in post-race inspection for Saturday’s Credit One NASCAR AMEX Credit Card 300. Those crew chiefs were Mardy Lindley of the JR Motorsports No. 1 for Sam Mayer, Andy Street of the Richard Childress Racing No. 21 for race winner Austin Hill and Joe Williams of the RSS Racing No. 39 for Ryan Sieg.

Officials also fined Truck Series crew chief Charles Walter $2,500 when one lug nut was found not safe and secure on the Spire Motorsports No. 71 driven by Rajah Caruth.

Posted on October 28, 2024October 30, 2024 by Zach Sturniolo

At the most pivotal time of the season, the eight drivers left fighting for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship rose to the occasion Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Six of the eight postseason contenders combined to lead 250 of the 267 laps in Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400, the middle race of the Round of 8. A race-high 97 of those circuits were led by race winner Tyler Reddick. Ryan Blaney (47) and Chase Elliott (81) entered in must-win positions and combined to lead nearly 48% of all the laps in Sunday’s 400-miler.

But in the end, the entire outlook of the 2024 Cup Series Playoffs was upended in a matter of 14 consequential minutes on a late afternoon just outside South Beach. From Reddick’s final pit stop to the race’s final restart, go inside how the postseason picture changed so quickly at Homestead-Miami:

MORE: Race results | Analyzing the playoffs post-Miami

All times Eastern.

5:31 p.m.

After stretching his fuel supply to its bitter end, Tyler Reddick hits pit road from the lead with 15 laps remaining to conclude Lap 252. The No. 45 Toyota of 23XI Racing was running fifth, roughly 3.5 seconds behind then-leader Ryan Blaney when the final round of green-flag pit stops began with 50 laps remaining. Crew chief Billy Scott determined staying out would be the team’s best chance to leap-frog the other playoff drivers ahead of them and score the ultimate walk-off win.

“Man, bed’s made here,” Scott radioed to Reddick. “Only chance is to get a yellow somewhere between here and when we run out of gas.”

WATCH: Scott explains doing ‘something different’

That caution didn’t come before Reddick’s fuel ran low and necessitated a trip to pit lane with 15 to go. Upon exiting pit road, Reddick merges onto the track just behind second-place-runner Kyle Larson but storms past both Larson and Blaney off Turn 4 to remain on the lead lap.

Playoff impact: With 15 laps left and four fresh tires, Reddick needed one last caution — and fast — otherwise, the No. 45 team would have been far below the elimination line heading to Martinsville Speedway.

5:33 p.m.

Cue the critical caution. In a fierce battle for the lead at Lap 255, Larson charges three-wide through the middle of Blaney and the lapped car of Austin Dillon entering Turn 3. Larson’s lunge upsets the handling of his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and sends him for a long slide through Turns 3 and 4. The 2021 Cup champion ultimately lost just one position to Denny Hamlin through the process, but a yellow flag in the closing stages means a late-race restart is inbound.

Playoff impact: Either Blaney or Larson seemed destined to lock themselves into the Championship 4 with a victory if the caution hadn’t come out. At the time of caution, Larson sat three points above the elimination line. Instead, the yellow saves Reddick, who maintains his lead-lap position and can capitalize on those who must pit again under the caution.

MORE: Larson battles through Homestead hindrances

5:36 p.m.

The last pit stops of the day prove pivotal. Ryan Blaney wins the race off pit road over Hamlin. Chase Elliott gains three spots to slot ahead of Alex Bowman (gained four spots), William Byron (even), Christopher Bell (lost two), AJ Allmendinger (even), Carson Hocevar (gained two), Kyle Larson (lost six) and Chase Briscoe (gained three). Larson pits with the leaders and restarts inside the top 10, but lost multiple spots because the team needed to fix the diffuser flap beneath the rear of the car after it deployed mid-spin.

Because he just pitted prior to the yellow flag, Reddick stays out to inherit the lead with just two green-flag laps on his tires. Reddick chooses the top lane for the restart with Blaney choosing the front row alongside him. Hamlin, Bowman, Bell and Hocevar line up behind Reddick; Elliott, Byron, Allmendinger and Larson behind Blaney.

Playoff impact: Reddick is suddenly thrust into the catbird seat and will control the restart after running 25th before the yellow. Had Reddick been the first car one lap down to receive the free pass, he would have had to restart in the rear instead. Blaney, Hamlin and Elliott are now on even footing with sights set on disposing of Reddick quickly after the restart.

James Gilbert | Getty Images

5:41 p.m.

The green flag flies at Lap 261 to trigger seven laps remaining. Blaney appears to stumble on the restart, allowing Elliott to put Blaney three-wide for second with Hamlin up high. Through Turns 1 and 2, Hamlin rips the high line and momentarily goes four-wide with leader Reddick, Blaney and Elliott to take the top spot away down the backstretch.

Despite the frontstretch bobble, Blaney slots back to second place on the back-straight while Elliott charges to third. With six to go, Blaney charges back to Hamlin’s left, attempting to retake the lead but to no avail. Reddick, however, uses the high line off Turn 2 to clear Elliott for third. Further back, Larson fades out of the top 10.

Playoff impact: Hamlin’s 22-race winless streak finally has an end in sight. After a frustrating season from the midpoint forward, Hamlin now leads in the late stages with a chance to lock his name into the Championship 4 bracket for the first time since 2021. Blaney, Reddick and Elliott all sit beneath the elimination line as Hamlin leads.

5:44 p.m.

With two laps left remaining, Blaney uses a huge launch off the high side of Turn 2 to storm to Hamlin’s left down the back straightaway. The No. 12 Team Penske Ford powers into Turn 3 using the middle groove and drifts high to defend against Hamlin on exit, leading to the white flag.

Playoff impact: The defending NASCAR Cup Series champion now has his chance to charge back into the Championship 4 with 1.5 miles left in front of him. With Blaney out front, Hamlin second and Reddick third, Hamlin drops to 17 points beneath the elimination line with Reddick 18 points out.

5:45 p.m.

White flag. Final lap. Reddick dives to the bottom of Turns 1 and 2 and bolts past Hamlin, co-owner of the very team Reddick races for. The three leaders take separate lines through the first set of corners — Blaney middle, Hamlin top and Reddick bottom. Reddick’s blast to the low line rockets him past Hamlin, heading down the backstretch.

One set of corners left. Blaney opts for the middle again, just like he did the lap prior on Hamlin. But this time, Reddick rips into the corner on the high line with far more speed. Despite two more laps on his tires, Reddick finds just enough grip around the wall to soar past Blaney. The checkered flag waves. Reddick is the winner over Blaney, Hamlin, Bell and Elliott.

WATCH: See incredible final lap | Blaney: ‘Won’t be sad about it’

Playoff impact: Tyler Reddick collects his fifth win in two seasons for 23XI Racing and his first career berth into the Championship 4. Despite top-five finishes for each, Hamlin, Blaney and Elliott leave Homestead beneath the elimination line. Hamlin is 18 points out, with Blaney down 38 markers and Elliott 43. Larson ultimately finishes 13th — at least 11 spots worse than he sat 12 minutes prior. Instead of leaving three points above the elimination line or locked into the Championship 4, Larson exits seven points beneath the line heading to Martinsville.

With Reddick and Las Vegas winner Joey Logano locked into the Championship 4, Sunday’s fourth-place finisher Bell sits 29 points to the good, with sixth-place finisher William Byron seven points above.

In 14 minutes, the outlook of the playoffs changed all over again.

Posted on October 28, 2024October 29, 2024 by Zack Albert

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Given all the pitfalls and peril that had come his way in an eventful 400 miles at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Kyle Larson didn’t have a “play it safe” mode in the waning laps of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race. Being overly cautious wasn’t in the playbook, and the approach nearly sealed a return trip to the Championship 4 field.

Larson finished an unlucky 13th in Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400, rallying from an early wall crunch to contend for the victory and a title-race spot until his spin in a contest for the lead with 13 laps left. Those honors went instead to first-time Champ 4 entrant Tyler Reddick, who converted on his own bold, late-race move for a clinching victory, landing him a bid for the Cup crown in the Nov. 10 finale at Phoenix Raceway.

Larson ranked seventh among the eight playoff-eligible drivers in Sunday’s finishing order; only Joey Logano, who clinched a championship bid the previous weekend in Las Vegas, was worse off in 28th place. Larson had entered the day with a plus-35 margin relative to the provisional elimination line. He left Homestead at minus-7 heading to the Round of 8’s finale Sunday at Martinsville Speedway (2 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App), with his wild points swing a direct result of his day and Reddick’s grid-shaking win.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

Larson said he and other drivers above the elimination mark heading into Homestead — namely Christopher Bell and William Byron — likely shared the inclination to press for the victory that seemed imminent. Watching drivers who reached Homestead in elimination territory — Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott alongside himself — have productive days only increased the urgency.

“When the win’s in front of you, and you see a guy like the 12 (Blaney) who’s below the (elimination) line going to win, or the 11’s (Hamlin) in third, the 9 (Elliott) — like all the guys who are below the (elimination) line are having great days. I mean, when the win’s in front of you, I don’t think any of us — Bell, William — would have done anything different,” Larson said. “You’re going for the win to lock yourself into Phoenix. Yeah, I’ve been disappointed in other races a lot more than what I am right now. I’m honestly, I’m really proud of even having a shot, like there’s nobody else that would have been able to do that. So yeah, I’m proud of that. Just wish it would have turned out a little differently.”

The seven other playoff-eligible drivers ran the 400-mile distance without major issue, but trouble seemed to target Larson in the early going. Larson was the victim of Sunday’s first caution period on Lap 47 of 267 when his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet popped a tire and scraped the outside retaining wall. Larson escaped with mild damage, and his steering held straight, but the scraping car ground away at the rear diffuser, hurting the team on downforce and handling. After dropping from second place to 33rd, he ended Stage 1 in 24th place but on the lead lap.

During the stage intermission, contact between Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s No. 47 Chevy and Chris Buescher’s No. 17 Ford left Buescher’s car impeding Larson’s pit-stall entry. He lined back up 35th for Stage 2 after more work on his No. 5 Chevrolet and worked back to 15th by the segment’s end. Those stage results, however, left him without additional points, which were gobbled up by stage winners Reddick and Hamlin.

Larson climbed all the way back into the top five once the race reached what appeared to be its final green-flag run. With 13 laps remaining, Larson ran second and made a bid to pass Blaney’s leading No. 12 Ford as both worked around the lap-down No. 3 Chevy of Austin Dillon. Larson lost control in the tight squeeze and made a long slide through Turn 3 but avoided contact with the wall or other cars. He continued on, but his chance for a victory faded.

“Just proud of myself for driving my ass off to get up there and have a shot because we shouldn’t have,” Larson said. “Then, yeah, racing for the lead there, I just couldn’t quite get close enough to Ryan, and finally got my chance to get close. I didn’t really know what to do. I was coming with a head of steam and was hoping Austin — and, yeah, he didn’t do anything wrong at all — but I was hoping he would kind of leave me the lane against the wall, but he ran his lane, and there was still a little bit of a hole, and I was going to try and shoot the gap and get clear in front of him, but just got loose as I was trying and spun. So yeah, it kind of ended our shot there.”

MORE: Playoff Pulse | Cup Series standings

Larson faces not only a points deficit next weekend but also 500 laps at Martinsville Speedway, a technical short track that has produced mixed fortunes for the 32-year-old driver. Larson landed just one top five in his first 12 starts there, but his results have improved dramatically since signing on with Rick Hendrick’s team in 2021. Since then? Larson has won three pole positions in seven starts there, and he added his first Martinsville victory in the spring of 2023.

“I mean, it’s not my best track, but it’s been a lot better for me the last years since joining Hendrick,” said Larson, who was the race runner-up and pole winner at Martinsville back in April. “So, it’ll be tough, but I’m looking forward to the challenge and hope we can go there and have a solid weekend.”

Posted on October 28, 2024October 28, 2024 by Staff Report

Voting has officially opened for the 2024 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) Most Popular Driver Award, which will run until 11:59 p.m. ET on Thursday, Nov. 21.

Fans will be able to vote five times per day (per unique address) for their favorite driver on NASCAR.com or on the mobile app.

For drivers to be eligible for the award, they must have declared NASCAR Cup Series points and be eligible for championship contention during the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Fans can also vote for the Most Popular Driver in the Xfinity Series and Craftsman Truck Series.

MORE: Every NMPA MPD Award winner

The winner of the 2024 NMPA Most Popular Driver Award will be announced during the NASCAR Awards banquet on Friday, Nov. 22 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott has won the Most Popular Driver Award for the last six seasons (2018-23).

Additional information about the NMPA can be found at nmpaonline.com.

Posted on October 27, 2024October 27, 2024 by Zack Albert

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — When the time came for the now-customary photo op with the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs grid at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Tyler Reddick’s son, Beau, took the sticker with father’s name on it and placed it on the board with precision. The elder Reddick’s name had just become the latest to join Joey Logano’s in the Championship 4 field, and the 28-year-old driver slapped it twice to make it count.

The extra emphasis added an exclamation point to the rambunctious Victory Lane celebration for his 23XI Racing team. Just like his dazzling, winning pass through the sweeping third and fourth turns, Reddick made damn sure it stuck.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

Reddick will be among the four drivers competing for a Cup Series championship for the first time in the Nov. 10 season finale at Phoenix Raceway, converting his bid for a title shot with a remarkable pair of passes that brought him from third place to first, bypassing fellow postseason contenders Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney in a nerve-fraying final lap. The victory — his third of the season — came on friendly turf at the South Florida track, a place that produced his pair of Xfinity Series crowns and one that has allowed him to be at his aggressive best.

Watch and marvel. Clarence Reddick’s been doing it ever since his son first turned a wheel in anger at age 4. Nick Payne, his spotter, has had his eyes firmly on the No. 45 Toyota driver’s talent ever since the two joined forces at 23XI in 2023. NBA legend and 23XI co-owner Michael Jordan has taken special delight in celebrating Reddick’s most recent accomplishments, which could soon include the organization’s first championship in two weeks’ time.

“What you saw there was Tyler doing what Tyler does,” Clarence Reddick told NASCAR.com. “They’ve talked about it for years: He’s way better at 130% than he is just running 110. He loves that.”

All saw brilliance from different vantage points at the end of Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400, the middle race in the postseason’s Round of 8. Reddick had benefited when a late caution period for Kyle Larson’s long slide out of a battle with Blaney for the lead had flipped the final stage’s pit strategy. No. 45 crew chief Billy Scott opted to run long before the team’s final scheduled stop, and when the yellow flew, Reddick stayed out to retake the lead. On two-lap-older tires, Reddick slipped briefly in the seven-lap run to the end but somehow summoned the needed momentum by the time the white flag flew.

Clarence Reddick, sitting alongside Jordan on pit road, could only see his son sail off into Turn 1, where the No. 45 Camry dove low and carried enough speed to clear Hamlin’s No. 11 by the time the front-running trio reached the back straight. He couldn’t see his son’s fateful move — a resurgent blast around the top side that foiled Blaney’s feint to the middle lane in the final corners.

“At the end, I wasn’t sure we were getting there, and then all of a sudden, we were there,” Clarence Reddick said. “I watched him come off (Turn) 4 with the lead, and I was surprised as maybe anybody was. I was cheering because I didn’t know that we had ran the wall and passed Ryan. I was thinking at that point when we were going in, it was going to maybe take Ryan and Denny to wrangle it up a little bit and let us get by. But that’s not how it went. He just went beast mode and just wasn’t going to be denied.

“He’s done that here. This is one of his best race tracks. This track, he’s talked about it before. It so rewards his aggression. The more aggressive he gets here, the better things that happen for him.”

Sean Gardner | Getty Images

Payne watched from the spotters’ stand, a more precarious job than normal this weekend because of a fluke infestation by a swarm of bees on the Homestead-Miami roof. His view of the late-lap proceedings was essential, and he relied on both his instincts and the hunch that even at a slight tire disadvantage, his driver had the goods.

“Man, if there’s anybody who can go up there and make it stick, there’s two people: It’s Tyler and it’s Kyle Larson,” Payne told NASCAR.com. “The moment we were chasing the 12 (Blaney), I kind of knew that, man, this could get pretty big here or it could work out well. It’s one of those high-risk, high-reward things, and thankfully, we kind of took the patient approach and we were just going to eat the fact that we may not get to the line first. As soon as we did that, we got to his right-rear, and I knew the moment we got to his right-rear, it’s a drag race to the line.”

Jordan made his way from his pit-road perch and strolled along the narrow, elevated pit-wall walkway to reach the frontstretch victory celebration. There was a reason that partners Jordan and Hamlin had recruited the California hotshot as they crafted the next stage of 23XI’s evolution, to create more moments like these.

In Reddick, it turns out, Jordan has found a kindred spirit — someone else who can knock down a big shot in the clutch.

“To be able to reward him with the days like we had today, it’s a true honor,” Reddick said of the NBA Hall of Famer. “It was really cool to see how happy he was. We’re all very happy about it. He believed in me. He believes in this team. The people, him, Denny, everybody else, has put together to create what 23XI is. He’s put a lot toward it. It’s really cool in these critical moments to be able to deliver for him and for everybody else that’s a part of the team.”

MORE: Playoff Pulse | Cup Series standings

Reddick had shoved aside several weeks of adversity, ever since he gutted out a valiant performance over Labor Day to seal the Regular Season Championship by a single point. Since then, the playoffs have presented a rocky road, including a wild rollover crash last weekend at Las Vegas that left him facing a 30-point deficit to the elimination line heading into Sunday’s 400-miler.

Sunday, all those hurdles were set aside with a winning ticket.

“Man, we’re chipping away at it. Tough times don’t last, tough people do, and we said that all week, and that’s kind of been our mantra through this,” Payne said. “It’s been tough. We’ve tried things, we’ve had some success, we failed. We’ve done a lot of things this year, and these guys just don’t give up. Pit crew, crew guys, engineers, everybody at Airspeed. It’s a testament to everything they’ve done. They work their tails off, week in, week out, every single week, and I’m just fortunate to be a small part of it.”

Reddick’s journey now includes a first-ever Championship 4 berth — both for him and his 23XI group. The opportunity to hoist the Bill France Cup comes in two weeks at Phoenix Raceway, a place where he’ll race two-time champion Logano and two other hopefuls for the Cup Series title. Those slots will be decided in next Sunday’s Round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway.

The 2024 campaign has already been a season of great achievement for Reddick, who has risen higher on the postseason ladder than ever before. He now has a signature moment at Homestead-Miami to thank for that chance.

“We have a shot to win the regular season and win that — that’s only going to amp that up further,” Clarence Reddick said. “I mean, he will be charged there. It’ll be just like when you saw the last lap here. So it means a lot. It’s great to reach this level, you know? I mean, I felt like we could always get to Cup, even that’s hard to do, sure. But to be able to be significant in it, I’m very proud of him. I’ve always told him all his life, he’s the best, and so I keep cheerleading for him all the time, but it’s incredible.”

Posted on October 27, 2024October 27, 2024 by Cameron Richardson

A 267-lap race for the ages at Homestead-Miami Speedway ended with a pass in Turns 3 and 4 on the final lap as Tyler Reddick rode the outside line to the checkered flag, passing Ryan Blaney to punch his ticket to Phoenix Raceway to fight for the Bill France Cup. All Round of 8 drivers were on their A-game at Homestead, with six of the remaining title contenders claiming the top-six finishing spots.

WINNER

Capitalizing on a late-race caution after a Kyle Larson spin, Reddick found a second life on a restart with seven to go as the No. 45 23XI Toyota led the way back to green. Despite falling behind Blaney and team owner Denny Hamlin, Reddick rode the wall on the final lap to get around the No. 12 in perfect fashion to take the checkered flag at Homestead. It’s Reddick’s first trip to the Championship 4.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos

WHO’S HOT?

Ryan Blaney. Like Christopher Bell last week at Las Vegas, Blaney will leave Homestead heartbroken after looking like the man to win it after the final green-flag pit stops. But after a gutsy move from Larson to try to take the lead from the defending champ, the No. 5 driver spun to rack up the field one more time. Blaney was able to grab ahold of the lead on the final lap, but as the No. 12 took entry into the final corner, he chose the slower bottom and opened the door for Reddick to clear on the outside, settling for a runner-up result.

Denny Hamlin. Hamlin nearly stole the show during the final restart as he initially had the advantage before being passed by Blaney and Reddick at the finish. The No. 11 collected a Stage 2 checkered flag, and with his third-place result, Hamlin is just 18 points below the elimination line heading to one of his best tracks in Martinsville Speedway.

WHO’S NOT?

William Byron. Despite another top-10 performance from the No. 24 team, they were among the slowest of the Round of 8 drivers all day Sunday. It was a clean day for Byron, but with Reddick winning, Byron holds just a seven-point gap to his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Larson on the elimination line before the cutoff race at Martinsville.

Kyle Larson. Another grind of a day for the No. 5 team puts them in the hole heading to Martinsville. Always a sure-fire favorite at Homestead, Larson held point early before a flat right-rear tire put him in the wall in Stage 1. Larson failed to collect stage points, but when he was in a position to take the lead and steal the checkered flag, he was too antsy for position and spun trying to squeeze between Blaney and Austin Dillon in Turn 3 for the race lead. Larson settled for a 13th-place result.

BUBBLE WATCH

RANK	DRIVER	CUTOFF
1	Tyler Reddick	ADV
2	Joey Logano	ADV
3	Christopher Bell	29
4	William Byron	7
	ELIMINATION LINE
5	Kyle Larson	-7
6	Denny Hamlin	-18
7	Ryan Blaney	-38
8	Chase Elliott	-43