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William Byron Makes Championship 4 With Aggressive Move For Martinsville Win

Jared Turner Written by Sports EditorJared Turner
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William Byron

Needing a lot to go right on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway to make the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4, William Byron made that happen and then some.

In a dominant performance, Byron won the Round of 8 elimination race and earned a berth in the Championship 4.

Byron’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson finished fifth in the Xfinity 500 — good enough to join Byron among the quartet of championship finalists next weekend at Phoenix Raceway.

William Byron Turned In A Clutch Performance At Martinsville

Entering the Martinsville race, two drivers in the Round of 8 — Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe — had already punched a ticket to the Championship 4. The Joe Gibbs Racing teammates did so by winning the past two weekends at Las Vegas and Talladega, respectively.

That left six drivers vying for two remaining Championship 4 spots in Sunday’s elimination race.

William Byron came into the day as the first driver south of the cutline. But trailing Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson by 36 points for the final transfer spot, Byron needed at worst a super-strong performance to make the cut.

Byron was more than just strong, though. He turned in a stellar drive, leading 304 of 500 laps after starting from the pole. It marked his third win of the season but first since Iowa Speedway on August 3. Byron has now reached the Championship 4 in three consecutive seasons.

Christopher Bell, who arrived at Martinsville on the bubble to advance, finished the day seven points behind Larson for the final transfer spot. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver will miss the Championship 4 for the second year in a row after making it back-to-back years.

Also missing the Championship 4 will be reigning series champ Joey Logano, his Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney and perennial most popular driver Chase Elliott.

By virtue of a Team Penske driver not being a championship finalist next weekend at Phoenix, Team Penske’s three-year reign atop the NASCAR world will end.

Logano has won two of the past three championships, with Blaney capturing the one in between.

William Byron Roughed Up Ryan Blaney To Point Way Into Championship 4

The pivotal moment of the race at Martinsville occurred with 44 laps to go. William Byron pushed race leader Ryan Blaney up out of the groove in Turn 1 as the cars made significant contact.

Blaney, whose No. 12 Ford left Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet little room to the inside when their collision occurred, had no opportunity to retaliate as Byron pulled away.

Turns out Blaney was actually OK with Byron’s aggressive move.

“Yeah, I mean, that’s just two guys going for it,” Blaney said. “I don’t blame him for taking that. I have kind of lost momentum. And I would have done the same thing, to be honest with you.

“I knew it was going to be tight. I tried to crowd him as much as I could.”

A late caution for a spin by Carson Hocevar gave Blaney one last chance. But Byron beat Blaney off pit road. Byron then sped off following the final restart with 11 laps remaining, running uncontested out front the rest of the way. Blaney held to finish second. Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain and Kyle Larson completed the top five.

Byron, the regular season champion, will be seeking his first full season championship next weekend. The same will be true for both Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe. Kyle Larson will be looking to claim his second Cup Series title and first since 2021.

So, it’s two Hendrick Motorsports cars versus two Joe Gibbs Racing cars for NASCAR’s biggest prize. The means a battle between two powerhouse organizations that are both no stranger to championships at the sport’s highest level.

Jared Turner Written by Sports EditorJared Turner
Jared Turner is a motorsports writer who has covered NASCAR for 20 years. He has interviewed over 20 NASCAR Hall of Famers and around 100 drivers, crew chiefs, and team owners, both past and present. He has also covered the sport for FOX Sports (where he was a two-time recipient of the FOX “X” Award for “Xtraordinary” job performance), NASCAR.com, Sporting News, NASCAR Pole Position Magazine, the SPEED network, and plenty of other online and print-only publications throughout his career. Notably, Jared has penned dozens of articles for NASCAR souvenir programs, including several featured prominently in Daytona 500 keepsakes. A Virginia Press Association award winner and former member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), Jared has racked up accolades both for his writing and his academic work. He studied both Communication and Psychology at Virginia Tech, where he was permanently enshrined in Phi Beta Kappa — the nation’s oldest and most prestigious academic honor society. Jared excels at feature writing and opinion writing, much of which stems from his dedication to all levels of racing.
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