Blaney Charges To Another Martinsville Walk-Off Win

Ryan Blaney celebrates in victory lane at Martinsville Speedway. (HHP/Jacy Norgaard photo)

MARTINSVILLE, Va. – As controversy reached a fever pitch behind him, Ryan Blaney left no doubt about his place in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 with a second straight Martinsville Speedway walk-off win Sunday night.

With one of the best long-run cars all race long and 29-lap fresher tires put on with 99 laps left in the Xfinity 500, Blaney charged from ninth to first over the final 87-lap green flag run, ultimately cementing his chance to defend his Cup Series title from a year ago.

After working his way past William Byron to take third with 43 laps left, Blaney methodically chased down the two leading Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets of Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott.

The trio converged within half a second with 25 to go before Elliott, who was on the same tires as Blaney, dispatched Larson for the top spot two circuits later. But Elliott simply couldn’t match Blaney’s long-run pace.

With a clinching dive to the inside of turns three and four, Blaney took the lead for good with 15 to go and drove off to a 2.593-second victory over Elliott when the checkered flag finally waved.

It marked Blaney’s 13th career Cup Series triumph and third of the season, and gives him a shot to battle for a Cup Series title for the second time in the elimination era – both in the past two seasons.

Sunday also put the heartache of Blaney’s near-miss at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway from a week ago – when he was passed for the win in the final corner by Tyler Reddick – fully behind him.

“I don’t know, man,” said Blaney in victory lane when asked how he charged through the field late. “I tried to save my rear tires early. I was struggling with my rears and with traffic the run before. But I think [the fresher rubber] kind of paid off for us in the end.

“I’m so proud of the effort by everyone at the [No.] 12 group for never giving up,” he added. “To have another shot at the championship is really special.”

Blaney only led three times all race for a combined 32 laps, while fellow Ford driver Brad Keselowski led a race-high 170 circuits and Elliott led five times for 129 laps in his own right.

But the crux for Blaney that ultimately paid off was having speed – and measured aggression – when it mattered most, courtesy of softer Goodyear tire compounds that made managing tires more of a factor.

“I hate that I had to lay the bumper to some guys, but I had to do it. It was nice to pass the 9 (Elliott) clean, though. I laid the bumper to a couple guys that I wish I didn’t have to, but I needed to get going to get to the front. It was a long night.

“I think that’s the most tired I’ve been after a race in a long time.”

Elliott and Larson ended up second and third, followed by Austin Cindric in fourth and Denny Hamlin, who took a heavily repaired race car to fifth from the rear of the field after a practice crash on Saturday.

Three of those four – Elliott, Larson, and Hamlin – found themselves bounced from the playoffs because they each needed to win to advance and were unable to do so.

But the story of the postseason was the outcome of the final spot in the Championship 4 – as well as the fourth driver eliminated as a result.

After a lap-77 spin in turn two set him behind the 8-ball, before he later got pinned a lap down, Christopher Bell found himself one point below the cut line on the final lap after coming into the day 29 points clear of the bubble and seemingly in comfortable shape to easily move on to fight for a title.

Conversely, Byron was fading on older tires after pitting for the final time on lap 372, running sixth on the last lap with Ross Chastain and Austin Dillon side-by-side right behind him. With where he was versus Bell, Byron couldn’t lose another position, or Bell would advance to the title decider on a tiebreaker.

While radio communications from Chastain’s and Dillon’s teams seemed to indicate that the pair wasn’t actively trying to pass Byron, the coup de grace of the entire scenario came when Toyota driver Bubba Wallace – a lap down like Bell – dropped anchor on the final lap and came back into Bell’s clutches.

Bell sent his car deep into turn three, dooring Wallace before completing the pass for 18th, but he washed up the track into the outside wall and then rode the wall around nearly to the finish line.

It was a pass for position that lifted Bell into a points tie with Byron, and provisionally, into the Championship 4 in a fashion that generated immediate controversy.

Though Bell came off the SAFER Barrier on the frontstretch prior to the flagstand, optically the move appeared similar to the ‘Hail Melon’ maneuver that Ross Chastain used to make the Championship 4 in 2022 – a move that was later outlawed in the NASCAR Rule Book.

That meant that race control immediately put the finish under review, poring over the late radio transmissions, available video, and other data for an intense 25-minute period before a final verdict was reached.

William Byron advanced to the Championship 4 on points Sunday evening at Virginia's Martinsville Speedway. (John Harrelson/NKP photo)

In the end, Bell was assessed a safety violation for the wall ride and relegated to the tail of his lap, dropping him from 18th to 22nd and giving Byron the final Championship 4 berth by four points over Bell.

The various emotions were more than evident on both sides.

“I don’t know what to say,” said a despondent Bell moments after the decision came down.

“I’m not really happy for anything,” noted Byron despite being the driver to advance. “The rule is what it is, though, for the crossover gate over there and riding the wall. It is what it is.

“I will go race [for a title] in Phoenix and we’ll see what happens. This was a really a hard-fought day overall for our team, and I’m proud of that.”

Byron joins Round of 8 winners Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick, and Blaney as the drivers who will race for the Bill France Cup at Arizona’s Phoenix Raceway.

Broadcast coverage of the Cup Series championship race at the one-mile desert 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.