Ryan Blaney repeats as XFinity 500 champion at Martinsville Speedway

MARTINSVILLE, Va. (WSET/NASCAR Wire) — He did it again.

For the second year in a row, defending champion Ryan Blaney won the NASCAR Cup Series Round of 8 elimination race at Martinsville Speedway to advance to Championship 4.

And as Blaney took the checkered flag to win Sunday’s Xfinity 500, Christopher Bell made a kamikaze move into the final turn in a vain attempt to deny William Byron the final spot in next Sunday’s title event at Phoenix Raceway.

Bell drove hard into Turn 3 on the final lap, passed Bubba Wallace for the only point he needed, slid into the outside wall and drove over the fence through Turn 4, committing a safety violation, according to NASCAR. Bell was penalized four positions to 22nd as Byron moved up by four points.

Blaney passed Chase Elliott for the lead on lap 486 of 500 and pulled away to win by 2.593 seconds over the Hendrick Motorsports driver, who was eliminated from the Playoffs along with teammate and third-place finisher Kyle Larson.

“I’m exhausted, I have nothing left,” said Blaney, who left Elliott and Larson three seconds back after a restart on lap 414.

‘Oh my God, I’m tired. A good battle, and this car hung around longer than most, and I was really able to gain some ground.

The victory was his third of the season, his second on the 0.526-mile short course and the 13th of his career.

Blaney joins Team Penske teammate Joey Logano in Championship 4 after winning in a race with the Goodyear option tire on the right side of the cars and a softer compound on the left side.

“The last 70 or so laps I tried to save my rear tires as much as I could, because that’s where I started to struggle later in the runs,” said Blaney, who led 32 laps. “I hated having to give the bumper to some guys, but I had to do it. It was nice to get the 9 (Elliott) clean. I put the bumper on a few guys who I wish I didn’t have to do, but I had to get going so it was a long night.

“I appreciate everyone for making it (the No. 12 Ford) through the night better. Thank God. I think this is the most tired I have been after a race in a long time.”

Byron came home sixth behind Austin Cindric and Denny Hamlin, while the Chevrolets of Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain ran side by side behind him in the closing laps and boxed into the Ford of Brad Keselowski, who led 170 laps and won the second stage.

After the race, before Bell’s penalty, Byron was adamant that Bell had committed a foul by driving over the wall on the final corner.

“He rode the wall, and there’s a clear rule against riding the wall,” Byron said, referring to the ban imposed after Ross Chastain went around the outside wall through Turns 3 and 4 at Martinsville to advance to Championship 4 in 2022.

“In my opinion, that’s what counts. We all sat in meetings and discussed whether there should be a rule against it. His (Bell’s) front tires came off the ground and came out of (Turn) 4, hitting the fence.

After the ruling, Bell congratulated Byron on his promotion to Championship 4. Bell had recovered from an early spin in Turn 2 and an unscheduled pit stop to tighten a loose wheel to make his last-ditch bid for the final Playoff spot .

Had Bell retained his 18th place finish, he would have beaten Byron for fourth place in the Championship on a tiebreak.

“It was Martinsville, and it was a closing race on the eighth lap,” Bell said. “Unfortunately I was on the bad side. Made a lot of mistakes, ran a sloppy race. It’s a shame it comes down to such a ball-and-strike call.

“You can look at both sides of the fence – the Chevy organization had a lot of blocking going on so the 24 (Bryon) didn’t lose positions. I slid into the wall (on the last lap) and kept my foot in it. I think that’s a losing move.”

Along with Larson, Elliott and Bell, Hamlin failed to make it to the Championship 4, finishing 24 points below the elimination line.

Dillon finished seventh on Sunday, followed by Chastain, Keselowski and Logano.

Elliott won the first stage and led 129 laps. Larson led 71 laps and Byron 51 in a race that featured nine cautions on 66 circuits.

Championship 4 driver Tyler Reddick, who won last Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, dropped out of the race after 458 laps and finished 34th.

However, Reddick, Logano, Blaney and Byron will start on equal footing in this Sunday’s Championship 4 Race in Phoenix (3 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

NASCAR Cup Series Race – XFINITY 500

Martinsville Highway

Martinsville, Va

Sunday November 3, 2024

1. (14) Ryan Blaney (P), Ford, 500.

2. (2) Chase Elliott (P), Chevrolet, 500.

3. (9) Kyle Larson (P), Chevrolet, 500.

4. (24) Austin Cindric, Ford, 500.

5. (37) Denny Hamlin (P), Toyota, 500.

6. (3) William Byron (P), Chevrolet, 500.

7. (10) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 500.

8. (22) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 500.

9. (18) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 500.

10. (12) Joey Logano (P), Ford, 500.

11. (25) Noah Gragson, Ford, 500.

12. (29) Shane Van Gisbergen(i), Chevrolet, 500.

13. (7) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 500.

14. (8) Ryan Preece, Ford, 500.

15. (4) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 500.

16. (11) Josh Berry #, Ford, 500.

17. (15) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 500.

18. (19) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 499.

19. (21) Erik Jones, Toyota, 499.

20. (28) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 499.

21. (36) Zane Smith #, Chevrolet, 499.

22. (16) Christopher Bell (P), Toyota, 499.

23. (20) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 498.

24. (1) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 498.

25. (27) Carson Hocevar #, Chevrolet, 498.

26. (13) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 498.

27. (33) Kaz Grala #, Ford, 497.

28. (23) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 497.

29. (30) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 497.

30. (26) Chris Buescher, Ford, 497.

31. (32) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 496.

32. (5) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 495.

33. (17) Michael McDowell, Ford, 490.

34. (31) Tyler Reddick (P), Toyota, brakes, 458.

35. (34) Corey LaJoie, Ford, oil pressure, 365.

36. (6) Harrison Burton, Ford, Motor, 347.

37. (35) Josh Bilicki(i), Ford, brakes, 131.

Average speed of the race winner: 120.677 km/h.

Race time: 3 hours, 28 minutes, 31 seconds. Winning margin: 2,593 seconds.

Warning flags: 9 for 66 laps.

Lead changes: 15 from 7 drivers.

Tour leaders: M. Truex Jr. 1-41;C. Elliott (P) 42-84; W. Byron (P) 85-86; C Elliott (P) 87-140; W. Byron (P) 141-185;C. Elliott (P) 186;R. Blaney (P) 187-202;B. Keselowski 203-263;R. Blaney (P) 264;B. Keselowski 265-373;B. Wallace 374-379;C. Elliott (P) 380-401;W. Byron (P) 402-405; K. Larson (P) 406-476;C. Elliott (P) 477-485;R. Blaney (P) 486-500.

Leader Summary (driver, lead times, laps led): Brad Keselowski 2 times for 170 laps; Chase Elliott (P) 5 times for 129 laps; Kyle Larson (P) 1 time for 71 laps; William Byron (P) 3 times for 51 laps; Martin Truex Jr. 1 time for 41 laps; Ryan Blaney (P) 3 times for 32 laps; Bubba Wallace 1 time for 6 laps.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 9,24,14,41,12,5,48,3,22,6

Stage #2 Top Ten: 6,12,11,5,24,20,3,48,10,41