Sunday at Martinsville was pure domination for William Byron, who led 304 of 500 laps on his way to capturing the checkered flag. He had to deal with Ryan Blaney, who had won the previous two fall races at Martinsville. He elbowed him out of the way, taking the lead with 44 laps to go and never looking back.
“Damn, I got a lot to say (smiling),” said Byron, who now has 16 career wins. “Things have a way of working out. God really tests your resilience a lot of times. We’ve been tested. Just unbelievable.
“I’m out of breath. Thank you, fans, for coming out. Bad-ass crowd. I watched my first NASCAR race up there just before start/finish line. Man, I am just so thankful, excited to see my family, just celebrate this one.
“We obviously go to Phoenix. Just go try to kick ass there.”
William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
Photo by: David Jensen / Getty Images
Blaney finished a disappointing second, Chase Elliott third, Ross Chastain fourth, and Kyle Larson fifth.
Larson was the final driver to advance into the final four, and the only one to do it on points, beating Christopher Bell by seven points. Bell was eliminated alongside the Penske duo of Joey Logano and Blaney, as well as Elliott.
Ryan Preece, Bell, Logano, Todd Gilliland, and Josh Berry filled out the remainder of the top ten.
At Phoenix, it will be the JGR duo of Denny Hamlin Chase Briscoe (who both suffered engine failures at Martinsville) facing the Hendrick duo of Byron and Larson.
Stage 1
The action was constant from the very start with contact throughout the field. While Byron remained in control, the first caution was for Daniel Suarez, who went for a half-spin while in the middle of a three-wide battle for position.
Everyone took the opportunity to pit, but McDowell rolled the dice and took just two tires. It did not work out for him as he quickly fell back through the field, and Byron reclaimed control of the race.
Byron was flying, lapping all the way up to 15th place by the end of Stage 1. Tyler Reddick got the free pass at the stage break, as Byron won Stage 1 over Logano, Larson, Elliott, Gibbs, and Hamlin.
Hamlin also had a nervous moment near the end of the stage, slipping up out of the groove and nearly tagging the wall.
Stage 2
The second stage was very green for the first 90 or so laps, but a spin by Carson Hocevar triggered a caution in the latter portions of the stage. It appeared like he got some help from future teammate Suarez. Larson narrowly avoided getting swept up in the incident.
Byron’s lead remained unchallenged as he absolutely dominated the event. The race resumed with 37 laps to go in the stage, and the Hendrick teammates worked together to control the restart from both lanes.
Jones and Chastain chose to take the wave-around, and it worked out perfectly for them as a caution quickly flew for a spinning Cole Custer. Bowman knocked Berry into Custer, causing the incident. Keselowski nearly plowed into the spun No. 41 car after the fact. There was no free pass since Berry was involved in the incident.
Another caution quickly flew for the spun car of Cody Ware, losing a right-rear wheel, which will result in penalties next week.
Many drivers took the opportunity to pit during these yellows, but some did not, including Bell and Larson. They are battling to out-point each other, as neither wants to be the playoff driver on the bubble with a potential new winner.
Byron went on to win the stage, beating Larson, Bell, Elliott, and Gilliland.
Stage 3
During the stage break, Reddick led a new group of drivers that chose to stay out. Byron was set to restart seventh, which was the deepest he had been in the field all day.
Blaney quickly took the lead from Reddick as Byron tried to find a way back to the front.
Back in the pack, Berry got spun after getting put on the outside of three-wide situation by Keselowski and Wallace.
Briscoe suddenly fell off the pack, and went to the garage with an engine issue. He was the first driver to fall out of the race. It took almost 300 laps for the first DNF of the day. Herbst soon followed him into the garage with his own mechanical issues.
The gremlins continued to plague the Toyota drivers, as Hamlin suddenly fell out of the race with his own engine failure.
Elsewhere on track, Hocevar got back at his future teammate, shoving Suarez up the track.
And while all eyes were on the win-and-you’re-in drivers, one non-playoff driver was flying through the field. Preece broke into the top five, and continued a steady march towards the lead.
With about 125 laps to go, green-flag pit stops began. However, a spin by Jones in the middle of green-flag pit stops threw a wrench into everything. Chastain was leading, and the only drivers who had pitted and remained on the lead lap were Blaney and Byron.
Cindric was penalized a lap for speeding off pit road in an attempt to not lose a lap.
The run didn’t last very long as Hocevar spun in yet another run-in with Suarez. During the caution, Bell led a small group of drivers that chose to pit, doing the opposite of Larson.
Byron eventually ran down Blaney, muscling him out of the way as they lapped T. Dillon with 44 laps to go. With 18 laps left, Hocevar spun for the third time on Sunday, setting up a mad-dash to the finish.
However, drivers kept it fairly clean, and Blaney was unable to bridge the gap to Byron, who claimed victory for HMS.
Watch: Byron wins Martinsville: ‘Things have a way of working out’
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