RIDGEWAY, Va. -- After entering Sunday in a must-win situation, Ryan Blaney charged to the front in the final laps and took the lead from Chase Elliott with 14 laps to go to win the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway, earning a Championship 4 spot with a win in the Round of 8 elimination race for the second year in a row. Blaney will go to Phoenix Raceway next week with a chance to win his second straight NASCAR Cup Series championship and become the first back-to-back champion since Jimmie Johnson won a record five-straight from 2006 to 2010.
As Blaney earned a walk-off victory, the final lap saw a dramatic swing in the battle for the final spot in the Championship 4. As William Byron held off traffic behind him to finish sixth, Christopher Bell put a dive-bomb move on Bubba Wallace -- who dropped off the pace over the final few laps -- in the final corner to make a pass for 18th, creating a tiebreaker for the final Championship 4 spot that Bell won over Byron by virtue of a better finish in the Round of 8.
However, the fact Bell rode the outside wall in the final corner -- a move outlawed by NASCAR after Ross Chastain's "Hail Melon" in this race two years ago -- led to an extensive review of the finish to see if Bell's move to make the Championship 4 would stand. Ultimately, NASCAR ruled Bell's move impermissible due to the fact that he rode the wall, putting him out of the Championship 4 and Byron in.
Xfinity 500 results
- #12 - Ryan Blaney
- #9 - Chase Elliott
- #5 - Kyle Larson
- #2 - Austin Cindric
- #11 - Denny Hamlin
- #24 - William Byron
- #3 - Austin Dillon
- #1 - Ross Chastain
- #6 - Brad Keselowski
- #22 - Joey Logano
"So proud of the effort by everyone at the 12 group never giving up. To have another shot at the championship is really special," Blaney told NBC Sports. "... The car hung on longer than most. Could really make some ground. They just worked on the car all night. I really appreciate them."
An Unanswered Prayer
As the final long run of the race unfolded, Sunday's race became rife with drama as it pertained to the playoff cut line. Despite entering Martinsville 29 points above the cut line and seemingly in a good position to advance to the Championship 4, issues throughout the day -- including an ill-timed caution for a spin by Carson Hocevar after had pitted under green -- left Bell trapped a lap down in 19th and seemingly helpless to make his way back above the cut line as Blaney, Elliott and Kyle Larson all raced for a win that would bump Bell out.
But in the closing laps, the situation changed. As the run progressed, Byron began to drop back and lose positions as the handling on his car went away, and by the final laps he was only a single point ahead of Bell at the cut line. Then, Bell's last ditch effort in the final corner occurred, but the fact that Bell rode the wall in Turn 4 -- a move outlawed by NASCAR following the Hail Melon -- immediately cast doubt as to whether the results would stand.
After a period of deliberation that lasted nearly half an hour, NASCAR ultimately ruled that Bell would be assessed a timed penalty, dropping him back to 22nd and out of the Championship 4 and putting Byron back in.
"There's a rule against it. We all sat in meetings and talked about whether there should be a rule against it," Byron told NBC Sports during the wait. "Front tires are off the ground coming off of 4 there against the fence. Yeah, it happened in the past, and it was fair game. But now the rule's against it so I don't see how you can call it any different."
"I understand that the rule was made to prevent people from riding the wall. But my move was completely different than what Ross' was. I got loose getting into the corner and slid right into the fence," Bell told NBC Sports. "I mean, I don't know. I don't know what else to say."
The Art of "The Deal"
Adding to the layers of the final laps included certain occurrences that were highly questionable and suggested potential race manipulation on account of the manufacturers involved. For one, Bubba Wallace -- driving a Toyota and running ahead of Bell in 18th -- ran nearly 2.4 seconds slower than Bell did on the final lap, seeming to slow down and back up to Bell on the final lap.
When asked on pit road afterward, Wallace claimed he was either struggling with his handling or "something broke" and he was trying to nurse his car to the finish, but Hendrick Motorsports vice president Jeff Gordon was heard telling Byron on pit road that Wallace's radio communications had been "screaming" at him to get back to where Bell was running.
There was also questionable radio communication between the No. 1 team of Ross Chastain and the No. 3 of Austin Dillon, two Chevrolets who were running just behind Byron who seemed to run a blockade instead of passing the No. 24 while discussing whether each knew "the deal."
What occurred invoked memories of the fall 2013 race at Richmond, in which the battle to make NASCAR's original "Chase" postseason format was marred by a race manipulation scandal centered around Michael Waltrip Racing and highlighted by Clint Bowyer being told to "itch" his arm before spinning by himself to bring out a caution. The fallout from that race saw historic penalties to Michael Waltrip Racing, led to Jeff Gordon being inserted into the Chase as a 13th driver, and led in part to the adoption of NASCAR's current playoff format starting in 2014.
When brought to speak to reporters following the race, NASCAR senior vice president of competition Elton Sawyer said the radio communications from the Chevy and Toyota teams had "no bearing" on the long deliberation process over whether Bell or Byron would advance, but seemed to not close the door on a closer look at the situation.
"We want to go back, as we would have done anyway. We'll get back, we'll take all the data, video, we'll listen to in-car audio," Sawyer said. "We'll do all that, as we would any event."
Bell's car owner, Joe Gibbs, was visibly irate over the decision upon emerging from the NASCAR officials' hauler in the garage area. He offered little comment to reporters as he walked back toward his teams' haulers, saying little other than that his team could not protest NASCAR's decision and that "they said it's over." Sawyer clarified that because Bell's penalty was an in-race violation, Joe Gibbs Racing could not appeal NASCAR's decision, per the sport's rulebook.
Race results rundown
- While Austin Cindric will wind up being the only Team Penske driver to not make the Championship 4, he nonetheless enjoyed one of his best runs of the season and ended it with a fourth-place finish, marking his fourth top-five finish of the 2024 season. If Cindric earns another top five at Phoenix next week, he will tie his career-best mark for top fives in a season (five) that he set in his rookie year of 2022.
- Leading the most laps on Sunday was Brad Keselowski, who paced the field for 170 laps on his way to a ninth-place finish. The 170 laps led by Keselowski are the most he has ever led in a single race while driving for RFK Racing, and the most he has led since he led 192 laps in the Bristol Night Race in 2020 while driving for Team Penske.
- In their next to last race as an organization, Stewart-Haas Racing had a strong showing for much of the day spearheaded by Chase Briscoe and Ryan Preece, who ran well up inside the top 10 and into the top five during the first half of the race. However, it would be Noah Gragson who would be best in class among the SHR cars with an 11th-place finish, followed by Preece in 14th, Briscoe in 15th and Josh Berry in 16th. Stewart-Haas Racing will compete in the Cup Series for the final time at Phoenix, with the assets of the organization becoming Haas Factory Team in 2025.
- Good on ya, SVG: Shane van Gisbergen recorded a 12th-place finish, giving him a new best finish in any Cup race on an oval ahead of his move to NASCAR's top level full-time in 2025. The former V8 Supercars champion will close out a full season of Xfinity Series racing next week at Phoenix, and then move up to Cup as the driver of a new third team for Trackhouse Racing.
- Martin Truex Jr. was the sentimental favorite for Sunday's race after winning the pole and led the opening 41 laps, but there was no storybook ending in store for the 2017 Cup Series champion as he faded over the first run, spun out midway through the race, and wound up finishing 24th. Truex will make his final start as a full-time Cup driver next week, after which point he will scale back to a part-time racing schedule.
- Kyle Busch's season from hell took yet another turn for the worse, as he would have an improperly installed right front wheel come off of his car as the field was taking the green flag for a restart -- one which ended up being of some consequence, as the field was shuffled by drivers gaining and losing spots in a very short period of time where the green was out. Busch will go winless in a season for the first time in his Cup career if he does not win at Phoenix next week, which would end a NASCAR record of 19 consecutive winning seasons dating back to his very first in 2005.
- Sunday marked a major milestone for Michael McDowell, as the 2021 Daytona 500 champion made the 500th start of his Cup career. However, a battery issue would spoil the occasion and leave McDowell, who will make his final start for Front Row Motorsports next week before moving to Spire Motorsports in 2025, 10 laps down in 33rd.
Next Race
Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, Joey Logano and William Byron will face off and race for the right to become the 2024 champion in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway next Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.
