William Byron, who won his third race of the season, his third at Martinsville, and the 16th in his Cup career, overcame a 36-point deficit to the Championship 4 cut line to join Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson in next week’s championship race in Phoenix. Byron’s third win of the year, his third at Martinsville, and his 16th Cup career came after he overcame a deficit of 36 points to make the Championship 4 cutline. He will now join Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe in the championship race in Phoenix next week. Byron, who was battling to get into the Championship 4 with Ryan Blaney to qualify for Phoenix, had to beat Blaney by a few laps in a race to the finish.
NASCAR playoffs race schedule 2025: complete list of Cup Series race dates and winners.
Steven Taranto
Byron took the lead with 43 laps left, after moving Blaney out of the bottom groove at turn 1. Byron’s crew was forced to make their final pitstop and final restart after Carson Hocevar spun with less than 20 laps remaining. The team earned the right to compete for the championship.
“Things always work out.” God really tests you resilience a number of times. We’ve been put to the test,” Byron told NBC Sports. “Unbelievable. “Unbelievable. I’m just so grateful, excited to celebrate with my family and just this one. We go to Phoenix to kick it ass.
“You guys are so hardworking, you work all day on Sundays. You don’t always get anything back. This has been true in the past couple of weeks, and we have had a few close calls all year. Sometimes life can be that way. You just have to be resilient. We were. And it feels great.”Blaney came in second place, but that was all for naught, as Chase Elliott and Christopher Bell were also eliminated, along with defending Cup Champion Joey Logano, from championship contention after the Round of Eight. Elliott was third, followed by Ross Chastain, Kyle Larson, Ryan Preece, Logano, Todd Gilliland, Josh Berry. After the two drivers were separated by only one point at Martinsville, Larson managed to outpoint Bell and become the final driver who made the Championship 4 by 7 points. Byron’s win pushed down the cutline and Bell lost his heart for the second time in a year. Bell entered Martinsville having a 37 point advantage on the line, but was then eliminated from the title race.
Larson told NBC Sports that “we had good enough position on the track all day, so we were sort of out of it.” “… Happy for [William], happy for our team, happy for Hendrick Motorsports. It was the best possible outcome for us to win and have William or Chase also win. We’re glad we can give Mr. H a chance next week and hope one of us wins it.Bell told NBC Sports, “It just seemed that we were lacking a bit of pace in the long runs.” “I thought that when we were close to the right balance, at times I was able take off on my tires and do well. I also made some passes and maintained my position. The theme was that the tires wore out and the car would fall backwards.”We weren’t good enough this weekend at Martinsville. We qualified in the teens and raced there the majority of the day. I’m happy with my results. I think that the four people who will be going are all legitimate contenders. It doesn’t matter who the winner is. They will all be well-deserved. “The 20 team was not good enough.”
In the Championship 4, two Hendrick Racing cars, driven by Byron and Larson, will face two Joe Gibbs Racing vehicles, driven by Denny Hamlin (who failed to finish Sunday’s race due to engine failures) and Chase Briscoe. Larson is the only one of the group to have won a Cup title, which he did in 2021. The NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race next week at Phoenix Raceway will come down to four drivers competing in a match-up race. Whoever of the Championship 4 drivers finishes best in the Championship Race, will be the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Champion.
Xfinity 500 results#24 – William Byron#12 – Ryan Blaney#9 – Chase Elliott#5 – Kyle Larson#60 Ryan Preece#21 Josh Berry#45 Tyler Reddick#54 — Ty Gibbs#8 — Kyle Busch#8 — Kyle Busch#2 Austin Cindric#3 Austin Dillon#41 _ Cole Custer#23 — Bubba Wallace#7 — Justin Haley# X# X#22 X#2 X# X#2 X# X# X# X# X# X# X# X# X# X# Xfinity500# Xfinity500# Xfinity500# Xfinity500# Xfinity500# Xfinity500# Xfinity Xfinity500# Xfinity Xfinity Allmendinger#17 – Chris Buescher#4 – Noah Gragson#77 – Carson Hocevar#51 – Cody Ware#66 – Casey Mears#43 – Erik Jones#11 – Denny Hamlin#35 – Riley Herbst (R)#19 – Chase Briscoe
2025-10-27 00:51:32
