Four Fall Short Of Cup Championship 4 At Martinsville

Christopher Bell was among the four drivers eliminated from playoff contention at Martinsville Speedway. (Danny Hansen/NKP for Toyota Racing photo)

MARTINSVILLE, Va. - Sunday evening at Martinsville Speedway was not a testament of a lack of effort, it was about four drivers giving it all they had in order to achieve their ultimate goal in fighting for a championship at Phoenix Raceway. 

But in the end, Christopher Bell, the NASCAR Cup Series official leader in drivers points, Denny Hamlin, a 54-time Cup Series winner, and Chase Elliott with Kyle Larson, two championship winning Hendrick Motorsports teammates in 2020 and 2021 were all eliminated from NASCAR Cup Series championship contention. 

“It was classic Martinsville, and it was a round of 8 cutoff race. Unfortunately, I was on the bad side of it. I made a lot of mistakes and ran a sloppy race,” said Christopher Bell, who fell four points short of advancing.

Bell was stripped of his third consecutive Championship 4 appearance since 2022 due to NASCAR officiating, ruling that Bell’s move of riding the outside turn four wall was a safety violation. Instead of tying final round clincher William Byron in points, where he then owned a tie breaker over Byron with better finishes at Las Vegas and Homestead-Miami, the Norman, Okla., native received the short end of the stick. 

“It is a shame that it comes down to a ball and strike call like that. You can look at both sides of the fence – the Chevy organization had a lot of blocking going on so that William Bryon didn’t lose positions. I slid into the wall and kept my foot into it. I guess that is a losing move.”

Byron ran sixth, while the performance of his No. 24 Liberty University Chevorlet Camro ZLE was rapidly declining in speed. Losing positions meant the Charlotte, N.C., native was closer to the edge of missing the final round. Seventh and eighth place Chevy teammates Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain were both faster than Byron, but did not seek to complete a pass for position in the final 15 laps.

For Bell, he was stuck a lap down throughout the later half of the final stage and needed a caution, or to find a lap car ahead of him for a passing point. His Toyota teammate Bubba Wallace, a lapped car, claimed he had a tire going flat, which caused him to slip back off race pace to Bell. Once the two met, Bell attempted a slide-job pass on Wallace, getting into the turn three wall, and rode the wall until the front straightaway. 

While stating it was not his clear intent to recreate the “Hail Melon” from 2022 famously done by Ross Chastain to advance to the Phoenix finale due to wall riding, Bell claimed he could not get off the wall due to his car’s handling. He claimed his tires were dirtied by the marbles in the higher groove of the turn. NASCAR officials were not buying it, and gave Byron the nod to compete in Phoenix next week. 

“I just got loose, I was trying to get by Wallace. Whenever I slid into the wall, I knew that I had to have that position and just tried to get to the line,” Bell said. “I didn’t intentionally floor it and go into the fence; I slipped into the wall and that’s all she wrote.”

For his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin, the 43-year-old was initially setback from a Saturday practice wreck, where his throttle got stuck in gear. The team repaired his primary car, and he started in the back of the field. Hamlin was able to work his way up to third in stage two, but it wasn’t enough to get the win he needed. 

The Chesterfield, Va., native got up to third at one point in the final stage  race, but his No. 11 stalled out. Crew chief Chris Gabehart elected to take two right-side tires on their final pit stop for track position, but couldn’t climb any further, settling for fifth place. 

“Thank you to all my friends, family, fans and even the non fans for the support of our No. 11 team during the 2024 season,” Hamlin wrote to X (formerly known as Twitter) on Sunday night. “Still got one more shot to hoist the [Bill France] cup next weekend.”

That shot will be with his co-owned fourth-year Cup Series team, 23XI Racing as Tyler Reddick looks to win his first career title after winning at Homestead-Miami Speedway on October 27. 

In his 20 year Cup Series career that has everything one could dream of: 54-wins, three Daytona 500 wins, three Southern 500 trophies and a Coca-Cola 600 crown he still is missing out on a driver’s championship. However, if his second year team driver Tyler Reddick could pull off a title next week, he would become a first-time owner’s champion. 

Hendrick Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson combined for a total of 200 laps led, a stellar 40 percent of the total 500 laps. 

Elliott and crew chief Alan Gustafson were the first team to come down pit road in the final pit cycle which put the Dawnsonville, Ga. native out front needing a win by all means. However, his teammate Larson’s No. 5 team just executed better. 

“It was a great call. It got us right there in the mix and we had an opportunity. I just made a couple mistakes there past halfway and got some damage on our car. I think that hurt a little bit,” said Elliott. “Just little things started stacking up. I was pushing really hard trying to get Larson. I just felt like Ryan Blaney had been really good.It just didn’t work out for us.”

The 28-year-old Elliott, started on the outside pole after a strong Saturday qualifying effort. At times he set the pace and applied the pressure on his opponents challenging for the win. But, nose damage while racing within the pack, hurt the handling on his car to push through for the win. 

“This whole Round of 8 has been a fight. From the first stage at Las Vegas on, it’s been a fight. I feel like we made the right pit call to give ourselves the best opportunity. I’m proud of my team; the car, the pit crew, everyone at Hendrick Motorsports,” Elliott’s teammate, Larson added. 

“We just didn’t have enough. I actually thought that when Chase Elliott got to second, I thought he was going to drive right to me and pass me easily. I was surprised I held on as long as I did, so it gave me hope. But then we just fell off the last 30 laps or so.” 

The Elk Grove, Calif., was quiet to begin the day, hanging around 13th to begin the first stage. While gaining 12 stage points throughout each segment, Larson didn’t come alive until late. 

The flame Larson had caught was short lived however, gambling on pit strategy with older tires then eventual race winner Ryan Blaney which ended his title hopes. 

Leaving Martinsville, Elliott made it to the Round of 8 for the first time since he made the final round in 2022, and rebounds from his down year in 2023. Larson missed the final cut a year after finishing runner-up to Ryan Blaney for the championship last season. This is the second time in three years he’s missed the final round since his championship win in 2021. 

Elliott’s outlook on next week is a mantra for everyone entering the final race of the 2024 season: “Go to Phoenix and try to put together a good weekend.”

Broadcast coverage of the Cup Series championship race at the one-mile oval is slated for Sunday, Nov. 10 at 3 p.m. ET, live on NBC, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.