Daytona 500 date on move in 2027 due to NFL Super Bowl. NASCAR podcast
Before breaking down the latest with the NASCAR playoffs as they head to Martinsville, the guys discuss the 2027 Daytona 500 date announcement.
- William Byron won the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway to secure a spot in the NASCAR championship race.
- The championship race will feature William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe and Kyle Larson at Phoenix Raceway.
William Byron shoved his way into the NASCAR title race.
With 44 laps to go in the Round of 8 finale, the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway, Byron got inside of leader Ryan Blaney and pushed him up the track, swapping positions. Both needed a victory to crack the final four.
Byron got it.
The driver of Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 24 Chevrolet led the last 44 laps Sunday, Oct. 26, capping a career day in which he began on the pole, captured the first two stages and fronted the pack for 304 go-arounds. He even held off Blaney on a restart with 11 to go.
“Things have a way of working out,” Byron said on the NBC broadcast. “God really tests your resilience a lot of times, and we’ve been tested. Just unbelievable. I’m out of breath.”
Blaney, along with third-place finisher Chase Elliott, Joey Logano and Christopher Bell, joined the ranks of the eliminated.
Byron will compete against Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe and Kyle Larson for the Cup Series championship next weekend. Before then, let’s break down the happenings at Martinsville.
1. William Byron keeps Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell out of NASCAR playoff final 4
Entering Martinsville, the drivers in position to advance to the final four were Hamlin, Briscoe, Bell and Larson.
Hamlin and Briscoe were locked in via previous Round of 8 wins. Bell and Larson were separated by one point, with Larson 36 points above the cutline.
And 36 points above Byron in fifth.
Byron charged his way to his third career win at Martinsville and 15th career triumph overall. His other two victories at Martinsville came in 2022 and 2024. Sunday marked the 27-year-old’s 284th Cup Series start.
Larson erased his one-point deficit behind Bell. He crossed the stripe fifth while Bell followed in seventh.
2. Team Penske shut out of NASCAR championship
There will be a new Cup champ this year.
Logano, the 2024 winner, was one of the four drivers kicked from the remaining playoff field at Martinsville. He began the afternoon 38 points below the cutline and placed eighth.
With Blaney also eliminated Sunday and Austin Cindric bounced at the end of the Round of 12, Team Penske will not have a driver in the final four.
That will end its three-year streak of champions, as Blaney claimed the title in 2023 and Logano did in ’22.
Only Hendrick and Joe Gibbs Racing drivers advanced to Phoenix intact.
3. When is NASCAR championship race?
So it all comes down to this.
The last race of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, a campaign that ignited with the Daytona 500 all the way back on Feb. 16, will take place Sunday, Nov. 2, at Phoenix Raceway.
Green flag time is set for just after 3 p.m. The 312 laps will air on NBC.
It will be the seventh straight year that Phoenix hosts the final. The one-mile dogleg oval opened in 1961. It has welcomed Cup Series drivers at least once a year since 1988.
During the circuit’s first trip there this season on March 9, Bell won.
He won’t matter next weekend, though. Only Hamlin, Briscoe, Larson and Byron will.
Whoever finishes first among the four will receive a big ol’ trophy.
