For the second straight year, defending series champion Ryan Blaney won the NASCAR Cup Series Round of 8 elimination race at Martinsville Speedway to advance to the Championship 4.
As Blaney took the checkered flag to win Sunday’s Xfinity 500, Christopher Bell made a kamikaze move into the final corner in a futile attempt to deprive William Byron of the final spot in the next Sunday’s title event at Phoenix Raceway.
Bell drove hard into Turn 3 on the final lap, passed Bubba Wallace for the one point he needed, slipped up into the outside wall and rode the fence through Turn 4, committing what NASCAR deemed a safety violation. Bell was penalized four positions to 22nd as Byron advanced by four points.
Should Christopher Bell race for the NASCAR Championship?
Watch this move on the final lap. pic.twitter.com/3A3BrNe0fd
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) November 3, 2024
Blaney passed Chase Elliott for the lead on lap 486 of 500 and pulled away to win by 2.593s over the Hendrick Motorsports driver, who was eliminated from the Playoffs along with teammate and third-place finisher Kyle Larson.
“I’m worn out out—I’ve got nothing left,” said Blaney, who ran down both Elliott and Larson from three seconds back after a restart on lap 414.
“Oh, my God, I’m tired. Good battle, and this car hung on longer than most, and I could really make some ground.”
The victory was his third of the season, his second at the 0.526-mile short track and the 13th of his career.
Blaney joins Team Penske teammate Joey Logano in the Championship 4 after triumphing in a race that featured Goodyear’s option tire on the right sides of the cars and a softer compound on the left.
“The last 70 or so laps I tried to save my rear [tires] the best I could, because that’s where I started struggling later in the runs,” said Blaney, who led 32 laps. “I hated I had to lay the bumper to some guys, but I had to do it. It was nice to pass the No. 9 (Elliott) clean. I laid the bumper to a couple guys that I wish I didn’t have to, but I needed to get going, so it was a long night.
“I appreciate everybody for getting [the No. 12 Ford] better through the night. Thank goodness. I think that’s the most tired I’ve been after a race in a long time.”
Byron came home sixth behind Austin Cindric and Denny Hamlin, as the Chevrolets of Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain ran side-by-side behind him on the closing laps, boxing in the Ford of Brad Keselowski, who led a race-high 170 laps and won the second stage.
After the race, before Bell’s penalty, Byron was adamant that Bell had committed a violation by riding the wall in the final corner.
“He rode the wall, and there’s a clear rule against riding the wall,” Byron said, referring to the prohibition instituted after Ross Chastain shot around the outside wall through Turns 3 and 4 at Martinsville to advance to the Championship 4 in 2022.
“In my eyes, that’s what counts… We all sat in meetings and talked about whether there should be a rule against it. His (Bell’s) front tires were off the ground coming off [Turn] 4 there, against the fence.”
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After the ruling, Bell congratulated Byron on his advancement to the Championship 4. Bell had recovered from an early spin in Turn 2 and an unscheduled pit stop to tighten a loose wheel to make his last-ditch bid for the final Playoff spot.
Had Bell retained his 18th-place finish, he would have edged Byron for the Championship 4 berth on a tiebreaker.
“It was Martinsville, and it was a Round of 8 cutoff race,” Bell said. “Unfortunately, I was on the bad side of it. Made a lot of mistakes, ran a sloppy race. 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 the No. 24 (Bryon) didn’t lose positions. I slid into the wall [on the final lap] and kept my foot into it. I guess that is a losing move.”
Along with Larson, Elliott and Bell, Hamlin failed to make the Championship 4, finishing 24 points below the elimination line.
Dillon finished seventh on Sunday, followed by Chastain, Keselowski and Logano.
Elliott won the first stage and led 129 laps. Larson led 71 laps and Byron 51 in a race that featured nine cautions for 66 circuits.
Championship 4 driver Tyler Reddick, who won last Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, fell put of the race after completing 458 laps and finished 34th.
However, Reddick, Logano, Blaney and Byron will start on even terms in next Sunday’s Championship 4 Race at Phoenix (3 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).