With a Championship 4 spot on the line, William Byron put the bumper to Ryan Blaney to win at Martinsville Speedway in the third-round finale of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
Byron made his winning move with 43 laps remaining, seizing the bottom lane in Turn 1 and moving Blaney up the track by tagging him in the left rear. The Hendrick Motorsports driver
Both drivers were in must-win situations to advance to the championship round
Blaney, who was trying to win his third consecutive playoff race at Martinsville, recovered quickly in second place but was unable to close the gap on Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet after getting within a car length on the 0.526-mile oval.
After qualifying 31st, Blaney methodically sliced through traffic to take his first lead just past the midpoint of the 500-lap race. The Team Penske star led a race-high XX laps.
Kyle Larson captured the final championship-eligible berth in the season finale with a XXth-place finish that put him XX points ahead of Christopher Bell, who was .
Byron and Larson advanced to face Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe in the title round Nov. 2 at Phoenix Raceway, where the championship will be awarded to the driver with the best finish of the four.
Along with Bell and Blaney, Chase Elliott and defending series champion Joey Logano also were eliminated from the playoffs.
With Blaney and Logano locked out of the Phoenix title race, Team Penske’s streak of three consecutive Cup championships was snapped.
The two Joe Gibbs Racing drivers who already were locked into Championship 4 both suffered engine failures at Martinsville.
Hamlin, who opened the third round with a Las Vegas Motor Speedway victory to advance to the title race, was running second on the 334th lap when he pulled his sputtering No. 11 Toyota into the garage. Martinsville marked the third race during the playoffs with a mechanical problem for Hamlin, who also needed a push from team members Saturday when his car failed to start in qualifying.
“I felt like the car was coming to us and was just starting to close in on Blaney,” Hamlin said. “I didn’t feel anything. The engine was running and then not. We’ll work on it. I’m obviously concerned, but obviously nothing I can do about it. So we’re going to have to live with it and hopefully we get lucky next week. I’m confident on speed we’ll be good next week. We’ll bring our best and hopefully it lasts.”
Briscoe finished last when his No. 19 Toyota lost power after 295 laps, but the JGR driver already had locked into the Championship 4 with his Oct. 19 victory at Talladega Superspeedway.
“Went to upshift and something happened,” said Briscoe, who was running 12th before the failure. “Not really sure but next week is what it’s all about anyway.”
Stage 1 winner: Byron
Stage 2 winner: Byron
Next: Sunday, Nov. 2, 3 p.m. ET at Phoenix Raceway on NBC and Peacock
