Ryan Blaney Clinches Championship 4 Berth with Martinsville Win
It was déjà vu all over again for Ryan Blaney and the No. 12 Team Penske organization Sunday in the NASCAR Cup Series Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway. Blaney rallied from a massive deficit of more than five seconds to Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott with around 55 laps remaining in the race. Blaney would blast his way past Elliott for the race lead with 15 laps remaining, and he would never look back.
Blaney, the defending Series champion, took the race win by 2.593 seconds over Elliott to secure his berth into the Championship 4 field in next weekend's NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway. Like last season, Blaney secured his place in the Championship 4 after a disappointing runner-up finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
RACE RESULTS: NASCAR Cup Series Xfinity 500 at Martinsville
RELATED: NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Standings After Martinsville
The level of focus that his No. 12 team continues to carry into these elimination types of races, a week removed from massive disappointment leaves Blaney feeling good about the group he's a part of.
"Yeah, I mean, it was a week of, I don't know, giving a race away at Homestead last week when it looked like we had a shot to get to Phoenix, definitely bummed us out on Sunday," Blaney admitted in his post-race press conference. "Our group did a great job of Monday morning we're going to go back in and do our jobs and figure out what we need to do to win Martinsville. That's the way this team operates. That's why I'm really proud to be a part of this group."
Now, just like last season, Blaney will carry ultimate momentum into Phoenix Raceway, a track where Team Penske has hoisted the Bill France Cup in each of the last two seasons. Blaney knows his team will be ready to bring home a third-consecutive championship for Roger Penske.
"I definitely believe in momentum," Blaney said. "I believe in confidence and stuff like that. I think this is the same as last year, right? You carry it into next week."
Blaney continued, "This team is really prepared to do it. Hopefully we can carry that momentum that we had last year winning this race on to next week, as well, so..."
Blaney will join his Team Penske teammate Joey Logano, 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick, and Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron, who was the other driver to lock into the Championship 4 on Sunday night at Martinsville.
While Byron was able to get the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet locked into the Championship 4 by way of a sixth-place finish, the team came up just shy of getting a second car into the championship race in its 40th anniversary season.
The driver, who scored three wins in the opening eight races of the season, heads into the Championship race next weekend on a 27-race losing streak. However, Byron has really come to life over the last six races as he has finished sixth-or-better in every race in that span.
"I don't care," Byron said of people doubting whether he has what it takes this year to win a championship. "I just appreciate our fans, and everyone who supports us. And I know I have an awesome team behind me, and excited to go to Phoenix. Yeah, I mean we didn't win this round. We've been up and down this year, not as good of a year as last year. But still end up in the same spot, chance to race for a championship and I know we've learned a lot."
Elliott saw his second NASCAR Cup Series championship hopes come to an end with a runner-up finish while Kyle Larson, who has a series-high six wins this season, missed out on advancing after finnishing third.
Austin Cindric picked up an impressive fourth-place finish, one spot ahead of Denny Hamlin, who failed to advance to the Championship 4, in fifth. While Hamlin didn't advance, he put in a hurculean effort as he rallied from a dead-last starting spot following a hard crash after his throttle hung wide open in Friday's practice session.
Hamlin's team repaired the car, and he methodically worked his way up through the field, but ultimately didn't have the car he needed to overcome the last few spots that he needed to gain to win the race.
Austin Dillon finished seventh, one spot behind Byron, and he was followed to the finish line by Ross Chastain, Brad Keselowski, and Joey Logano.
Christopher Bell initially finished 18th as he passed Bubba Wallace on the final lap, which was enough to advance him into the Championship 4 field over Byron. However, NASCAR determined that Bell violated the rules by riding the wall in the final turn of the race to advance.
After a nearly 30-minute hold following the checkered flag being displayed, NASCAR assessed an in-race penalty to Bell and the No. 20 team, which dropped them to a 22nd-place finish, making Bell the last driver one lap down. The adjustment to Bell's finishing position wiped out his Championship 4 berth and secured Bell's advancement to the final round of the Playoffs.
While the Championship 4 field is set, for now, NASCAR's Elton Sawyer did say that the sanctioning body will review data, video, and in-car radio to determine if any teams attempted to manipulate the finish of the race.
"Yeah, we'll look at everything," Sawyer said. "As I said earlier, we want to go back, as we would have done anyway. We'll get back, we'll take all the data, video. We'll listen to in-car audio. We'll do all that, as we would any event."
The teams in question include Bubba Wallace, which slowed on the final lap and allowed Bell to pass him for a position as well as Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain, who created a double-file logjam behind Byron, which could have potentially been a concerted effort to keep anyone else from passing Byron, a fellow Chevy driver.
The NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race is scheduled for next Sunday, November, 10 at Phoenix Raceway. That race will be televised on NBC with coverage kicking off at 3:00 PM ET. The Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will carry the live radio broadcast of that event.
Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.