Ryan Blaney won Sunday’s (Nov. 3) Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway, earning the third of four berths in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4.
The fourth one? That took officials and several anxious moments of waiting on pit road to sort out.
That drama unfolded while reigning Cup champion Blaney raced his way in. The Team Penske driver passed Chase Elliott for the lead with 14 laps remaining, driving away to win this Martinsville fall race for the second consecutive season. Blaney came alive on fresh tires, building pace during a long green-flag run where he initially lost crucial track position.
“So proud of the effort by the No. 12 group, never giving up,” Blaney told NBC Sports. “To have another shot at a championship is really special.”
“I’m worn out, I got nothing left. Good battle, on the long run the car was really good and could make some ground.”
Behind the race win came chaos. As Bubba Wallace slowed on the last lap, claiming he had a flat tire, Christopher Bell made a wild move in the final corner to pass him. The move tied Bell with William Byron on points, initially advancing him to the Championship 4 over Byron, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin and Elliott.
However, after the race NASCAR officials took several minutes to review the final laps, determining Bell rode the wall on the white flag lap.
https://twitter.com/NASCARonNBC/status/1853205202477654039
The move was compared to Ross Chastain’s last-lap wall ride two years ago in which Chastain earned himself a spot in the Championship 4 over Hamlin.
Officials chose to penalize Bell, awarding the fourth spot to Byron on points.
“I understand that the rule was made to prevent people from riding the wall, but my move was completely different than what Ross’ was,” a dejected Bell told NBC Sports after the decision was announced. “I got loose getting into the corner and slid right into the fence. I don’t know what else to say.”
Joe Gibbs himself along with team representatives spent several heated moments inside the NASCAR hauler but were told they could not appeal the decision as it was labeled a “safety violation.”
That slotted Byron into the field, ensuring all three manufacturers would be represented in this year’s Championship 4. The two Penske drivers (Blaney and Joey Logano) will be joined by Byron’s Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and the 23XI Racing Toyota of Homestead-Miami Speedway winner Tyler Reddick.
“I’ve never been a part of anything like this, so I don’t really know how to feel,” Byron said after the race. “I hate it for everyone involved… I’m happy for us moving on, and we’ll go on and focus on Phoenix.”
In the end, NASCAR determined Byron broke no rules despite separate evidence Chevrolet drivers Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain were blocking others from passing Byron on the track. As the race wound down, the handling on the No. 24 car was falling apart, moving Bell to within one position of advancing.
But Dillon and Chastain raced side-by-side behind Byron for several laps, keeping others from moving up and passing them. The field stacked up behind the No. 24 while several radio transmissions indicated the duo were working together to help preserve Byron’s spot in the field.
https://twitter.com/MrMatthew_CFB/status/1853207833669480860
Out in victory lane, Blaney avoided the controversy altogether, attempting to become the first to win back-to-back titles since NASCAR adopted the current playoff format in 2014.
“A lot of momentum,” Blaney said about heading to Phoenix next week. “It’s nice to have two Penske cars in. It’s nice to join the 22 and have a decent shot to bring Roger another title, a third title in a row, so these guys are the best at what they do and it’s been so much fun to get to run with them and share wins and championships.”
Elliott, Larson, Austin Cindric, Hamlin, Byron, Dillon, Chastain, Brad Keselowski and Logano rounded out the top 10.
While Blaney was busy passing cars, Byron was going the opposite direction late in the race. A mini-freefall from third place that started with a pass by Blaney quickly saw Byron lose fourth to Cindric, then lose fifth to Hamlin.
In the final laps, Byron found himself sixth, with a host of cars behind him, ready to pounce at the opportunity to slip by.
At least, that’s what everyone thought was going to happen. It provided a surprise opportunity for Bell to advance after an awful afternoon characterized by a lap 77 spin, then a loose wheel on a caution flag stop that trapped him back in the field and ultimately left the No. 20 Toyota a lap down during the final 100 laps.
Sensing opportunity, Bell attempted to pounce. Running 2.4 seconds faster than a supposedly ailing Wallace on the final lap, Bell’s Camry hit the wall in turns 3 and 4 and rattled across the finish line. Meanwhile, Byron easily fended off Dillon and Chastain.
But while NASCAR tried to sort out the situation on pit road, NBC played some indicting radio transmissions suggesting Dillon and Chastain, both of whom drive Chevrolets, intentionally blocked fellow drivers from having a chance to pass Byron.
“We had a lot of adversity through the second half of the race there,” Byron admitted. “Yeah, I mean we know what the rules are, right?”
It wasn’t the only controversy surrounding a playoff race NASCAR won’t soon forget. A restart on lap 407 was initially waved off due to a tire falling off the No. 8 of Kyle Busch. However, officials later determined the green flag came out, however briefly, allowing the field to reshuffle in a track position race. Larson was scored the leader over Byron, leaving Blaney irate on the radio as the decision cost him several spots.
https://twitter.com/DaveyCenter/status/1853195412003340511
With less than 60 laps to go, Blaney wasn’t in contention for the win, stuck in fourth place with a trio of Hendrick cars in front of him. He was able to get by Byron with 55 laps left, but a 2.5-second deficit to Larson remained the main obstacle to his Championship 4 hopes.
All of a sudden, Blaney’s No. 12 caught fire as it had all day on long runs. As Larson and Elliott carved through lapped traffic, Blaney chopped off his deficit to the leaders in chunks. As Elliott took the lead from Larson, the No. 12 Ford gradually reeled in both of them, beating and banging by Larson for second.
Now, with a clear task at hand and 24 laps to work with, Blaney took a slightly more reserved approach to the next several laps. On lap 486, after finally catching Elliott for the race lead, he moved around the 2020 champion seamlessly.
Not only did Blaney take the top spot, but he drove away effortlessly, winning the race by a final margin of 2.5 seconds — the same amount of time he was behind leader Larson when starting his late-race charge.
Aside from the playoff drama, several other potential Martinsville winners had their days fall apart. Pole sitter Martin Truex Jr. was nabbed for speeding on his first pit stop of the day, derailing his race early in a similar fashion to his night at Bristol Motor Speedway in September. He later spun and limped home 24th, two laps off the pace.
Keselowski then played the role of spoiler, leading a race-high 170 laps, but was doomed by a slow green-flag stop that left him behind the Hendrick cars. That loss of track position proved costly and he was unable to regain momentum, finishing the race in ninth.
Three spots ahead of him was Hamlin, who made a spirited run from the back of the field after wrecking in practice. But after reaching the top five, the No. 11 Toyota stalled out and the 43-year-old was never a serious contender to advance.
https://twitter.com/dennyhamlin/status/1853231042506666422
NASCAR Xfinity 500 Results
Controversy will now remain within NASCAR this week after Vice President of Competition Elton Sawyer said in post-race media availability the sport will “take a look” at a later time on how other Chevrolet teams potentially tried to manipulate the finish. It’s chaos Blaney is happy to steer clear of by simply winning his way into the four-driver finale.
https://twitter.com/jeff_gluck/status/1853228324794876283
The NASCAR Cup Series Championship race will take place at Phoenix Raceway next Sunday, Nov. 10, at 3 p.m. ET. Television coverage will be provided on NBC and the race can be heard on SIRIUS XM NASCAR Radio or your local MRN affiliate.
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I thought it was pretty obvious that Dillon (Chevy) and Chastain (Chevy) were manipulating the finish (to benefit Byron (Chevy)), and Wallace (Toyota) was manipulating the finish (to benefit Bell (Toyota)). They should have all been disqualified and/or suspended for the next race.
As for Byron and Bell, Byron should have gotten the final berth because, technically, he didn’t break any rules, while Bell road and accelerated along the wall which is something for which there is rule against.
Obviously I am just going on what I observed visually, it there is evidence on team radios that should be taken into consideration as well.
The most important takeaway was that Hamlin got denied again, so everyone can take joy in that.
Obvious the 1 and 3 team were blocking for Byron. Was hoping Brad K was going to punt the 3 into the 1 car. Also obvious was Bubba had a case of the Boyer itchy elbow. Would like to see a 100K fine and start 100 points in the hole next season. Not that Bubba and Austin would feel it but Ross might.
All of which highlights the foolishness of Brian France’s folly.
I try to be neutral in my observations, but Chastain and Dillion both raced anybody around them extremely hard for the duration of the race. They both probably have hard ons for perceived injustices during the season. Taking it out on their competitors in the penultimate race of the year as they know they will be castrated in the Phoenix race. However, it was so visually obvious that bubba was slowing extremely and faking some handling problems on the last lap to let Bell get the spot. That is called “race manipulation!”
I hope all 3 of the “manipulators” get some sort of penalty this week.
It is obvious NA$CAR has a quota rule on the sagoffs requiring that
there be at least one Hendrick or Childress Chevrolet or if there isn’t
penalties will be applied for it to happen.
It was a great day to be in Martinsville. The weather was perfect and the race was pretty good to boot. Took waaaaay too long to get a Martinsville hot dog, though. Enjoyed seeing Kes run up front for those 170 laps. And enjoyed seeing Hamlin eliminated again.
I don’t care what Frontstretch says, the paint job of the week was the #7 car of Justin Haley. Neon green flames on a black background. It looked sharp.