With a Championship 4 spot on the line Sunday, 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 led the rest of the way and fended off Blaney on a restart with 11 laps remaining. Starting from the pole position, Byron led a race-high 304 of 500 laps for his third victory this season in the No. 24 Chevrolet.
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, came up one spot short despite qualifying 31st and leading 177 laps on the 0.526-mile oval.
Kyle Larson, Byron’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, captured the final championship-eligible berth in the season finale with a fourth-place finish that put him seven points ahead of Christopher Bell, who was seventh.
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 drivers who are split evenly between Joe Gibbs Racing and Hendrick.
Along with Bell and Blaney, third-place finisher Chase Elliott and defending series champion Joey Logano (eighth) 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.
Mechanical woes
The two Joe Gibbs Racing drivers who already were locked into Championship 4 both suffered engine failures.
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,” said Hamlin, who finished 35th after winning at Martinsville in March. “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.”
Courtside update
Hamlin, who co-owns 23XI Racing with Michael Jordan, said the team’s antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR won’t be a distraction to pursuing his first Cup championship.
Hamlin spent Tuesday through Thursday in Charlotte, North Carolina, courtrooms for mediation sessions and a summary judgment hearing, and he worked nightly at Joe Gibbs Racing until as late as 10 p.m.
“I’m tired, but I didn’t stop working,” Hamlin said Saturday. “I go from court to the shop. We don’t stop. I’m prepared.”
Hamlin said the settlement talks went “OK the first day, not great the second day” and seems resigned to a trial that is scheduled to begin Dec. 1. “I think both sides probably feel strong about their case,” he said. “You heard the arguments. I’ll let you form your own opinion, but I think one of us is on a suicide mission.”
Up next
The Championship 4 season finale of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs will be held Sunday, Nov. 2 at Phoenix Raceway. Joey Logano won at the mile oval in Avondale, Arizona, last November to claim his third Cup championship. Christopher Bell won the March 9 race at Phoenix with a last-lap pass of teammate Denny Hamlin.
