RIDGEWAY, Va. -- After a long run to the finish in what became a physically and mentally-demanding race, Ryan Blaney passed Aric Almirola with 23 laps to go and drove away to win the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway, collecting his third win of the 2023 season and clinching a spot in the Championship 4. Blaney advances to the Championship 4 -- where he will join Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell and William Byron -- for the first time in his Cup career.
Blaney spent much of the afternoon racing Denny Hamlin for the lead before a series of variable strategies played out over the final 200 laps, including on a final green flag run that lasted 168 laps and was the longest in any Cup race at Martinsville since 1996. Blaney's car came to life over the closing laps, as he was able to run down Almirola for the lead then pull away as the Round of 8's conclusion played out behind him.
With Byron claiming the final playoff spot on points, four drivers -- Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Tyler Reddick and Chris Buescher -- were eliminated from the NASCAR playoffs.
Xfinity 500 unofficial results
- #12 - Ryan Blaney
- #10 - Aric Almirola
- #11 - Denny Hamlin
- #14 - Chase Briscoe
- #22 - Joey Logano
- #5 - Kyle Larson
- #20 - Christopher Bell
- #17 - Chris Buescher
- #2 - Austin Cindric
- #38 - Todd Gilliland
Having been to the Round of 8 several times but never making it to the Championship 4, Blaney reveled in earning the opportunity to compete for his first Cup championship right up the road from his native High Point, N.C. Blaney's first Martinsville triumph came after he came close several times, namely a pair of runner-up finishes in 2020.
Blaney's victory is also his second in the past five races, marking a dramatic turnaround for Team Penske that will see them compete for a second-straight Cup title in spite of what's been a down season for the organization.
"I thought we put together a really strong playoffs. Especially the Round of 8 -- we've had a good run in the whole Round of 8," Blaney told NBC Sports. "Overall, just really proud of the whole effort ... This is awesome. Can't wait to get to Phoenix next week."
Byron's battle to advance
Some 30 points above the cut line entering Sunday, it seemed the only thing that could keep William Byron from advancing to the Championship 4 would be a complete disaster of a race. It wasn't as though disaster struck Byron and the No. 24 team outright -- but instead of easily advancing to the next round, they were just fortunate to hang on in more ways than one.
Byron spent much of the afternoon struggling with an ill-handling racecar, which left him unable to break out of midpack as both Blaney and Denny Hamlin made up huge chunks of stage points on him. With Hamlin leading four times for a race-high 156 laps, there were several times throughout the race where it looked as though Byron would be eliminated in the event of a Hamlin victory and Blaney finishing up front.
As Blaney -- and then other drivers like Chase Elliott and Aric Almirola -- found the front later on, Byron's outlook began to improve. But while things appeared to be getting better for Byron over the final 50 laps, as he made his way into the top 15 and Hamlin ran out of potential points to gain on him, simply getting to the finish became a massive struggle.
An unseasonably hot day made a grueling final run that much more physically and mentally taxing, and Byron felt the full brunt of it. Byron was visibly exhausted in post-race, and he told reporters from the pit wall he began to have vision problems as he dealt with heat exhaustion under his helmet.
"We were not very good. Our worst race of the year -- but these guys deserve it so much," Byron told NBC Sports. "They work so hard. With probably 50 to go I felt really, really bad and I just had to drive the hell out of it. And the guys stuck with me and they just kept motivating me through little bits and pieces of just kind of keeping my mind straight. I'm just really thankful for them.
"It was a slugfest ... We just had to hang on. I just had to dig a little bit deeper. I knew when I got out of the car I was just beat, but the result just means more than anything. These guys work so hard, we've worked so hard all season, and I'm just really proud of them."
Hoist by his own pit-tard
At the start of the day, it appeared Sunday's race would feature a pair of Joe Gibbs Racing veterans -- Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. -- making up on points on the cut line after both had issues last week at Homestead. Instead, self-inflicted wounds would finally bring what has been a miserable playoffs to an end for the regular-season champion.
Truex started from the pole, led the opening 47 laps and spent a great deal of the opening stages of the race running inside the top five -- until things went awry on pit road. A pit road speeding penalty under caution would send Truex to the rear of the field, miring him in midpack from that point onward. And things were compounded the next time Truex came to pit road, when the No. 19 Toyota fell off the jack leading to a slow stop.
Truex was able to drive back to 12th despite not having as good a racecar in traffic, but the damage was done. After his regular-season championship allowed him to advance through the playoffs despite only a single top-10 finish in the first three rounds, Truex was eliminated from the playoffs one race short of an opportunity at a second Cup title.
"I think it just shows how tough this sport is ... You find this little bit, and suddenly you look like a hero. And some other guys find some stuff, and suddenly you're not," Truex told NBC Sports. "We've been fast at times, but execution hasn't been solid, it hasn't been consistent. We've had some bad luck -- we've had a little bit of everything.
"Like I said, some years it feels like it's your year and some years it feels like it's not. I just feel like we couldn't do anything right, and if it was ever a 50/50 call it always went against us. The blown engine, the flat tire, you name it. Just problem after problem just kept setting us back and we couldn't get no momentum.
"I think we did a great job today. Again, it was just a tiny little error. .02 miles an hour can ruin your whole year, unfortunately."
With Truex's elimination leading to his point total being reset, the totality of his playoff collapse is now fully illustrated. After handily winning the regular-season championship, Truex has now plummeted all the way to 12th in the championship standings and will have to battle Bubba Wallace, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch for a spot in the top 10.
Chris Buescher was able to earn a top-10 finish, but he entered Sunday in a must-win situation and was never truly a factor to get that victory before finishing eighth. Tyler Reddick was also never a factor, but he fared far worse and finished two laps down in 26th.
Pace car down!
Sunday's race featured seven cautions, the most in any race at Martinsville since the introduction of the Next Gen car. But moreso than incidents involving drivers like Alex Bowman, Ty Gibbs, Michael McDowell and others, it was what happened while the field was under the yellow flag that ended up being one of the biggest highlights.
A new tire by Goodyear for this race, combined with the hot temperatures in Southern Virginia, created a great deal of rubber buildup in Martinsville's corners. As it turned out, rubber debris around the track ended up damaging the Chevrolet Camaro pace car to the point that it broke down in Turn 1. NASCAR officials improvised by using a safety truck as a stand-in pace car while the Camaro was hooked up to a tow truck and taken back to the garage area.
In a statement shared by Road & Track, a Chevrolet representative confirmed that rubber buildup on the racetrack damaged the wiring harness to the pace car's fuel pump, subsequently disabling it. A backup pace car was deployed for the remainder of the race.
Race results rundown
- The sight of visibly exhausted drivers following the conclusion of Sunday's race was reminiscent of 25 years ago, when the fall Martinsville race in 1998 was run in mid-90 degree temperatures. That race is remembered for the toughness of race winner Ricky Rudd, who required oxygen and an IV in Victory Lane while also having suffered second-degree burns after a cooling system failure in the opening laps.
- After announcing Saturday he would not return to Stewart-Haas Racing in 2024 and would no longer race full-time in Cup, Aric Almirola nearly pulled off what would have been a monumental victory before having to settle for second. The runner-up finish marked the 30th top-five finish of Almirola's career, and his best overall finish since his win at New Hampshire in 2021.
- While Almirola led the charge in what was a good overall weekend for Stewart-Haas Racing, Chase Briscoe wasn't very far behind. Briscoe backed up a third-place qualifying effort by running in the top five throughout the day, finishing fourth to tie his season-best finish and earn his first top five since Talladega in April.
- Ryan Blaney's victory was complemented by a strong overall day for Team Penske, as Joey Logano finished fifth and Austin Cindric earned a top-10 finish in ninth. That marks the first time all three Penske cars have finished in the top 10 since Nashville in June 2022.
- Todd Gilliland led the way for Front Row Motorsports on Sunday, making his way up into the top 10 and staying there by earning a 10th-place finish. Gilliland's top 10 is his first since Talladega in April and gives him four on the 2023 season, doubling the amount he had in 2022.
- Compared to after the Hail Melon last year, the right side of Ross Chastain's car in post-race looked almost identical to the way it looked when the green flag dropped. Chastain commemorated the one-year anniversary of the Hail Melon with a 14th-place run.
- In the penultimate race of his Cup Series career, Kevin Harvick ran inside the top five at intervals and earned stage points before fading to a 16th-place finish. Next week at Phoenix, Harvick will make the 826th and final start of his future Hall of Fame career.
- Corey LaJoie enjoyed some time up front on the final run to the finish, as he led three laps after the final restart in a spirited battle with Chase Elliott for the lead. LaJoie couldn't make it to the end on fuel and finished 22nd, but by taking the checkered flag at Phoenix next week he would become the only Cup Series driver this season to be running at the finish in every single race.
Next race
The 75th Anniversary season of NASCAR will conclude and a Cup Series champion -- Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney or William Byron -- will be crowned in the season finale and Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway. Coverage begins next Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.
