William Byron had waited 35 races for this. Apparently, all he needed was a trip to Martinsville, a decent set of tires and 500 laps to remind everyone that he still knows where Victory Lane is.
After a season that had somehow managed to go an entire year without a win, Byron finally broke through Sunday, dominating the NASCAR Cup Series Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway and holding off Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott in the closing laps to claim his first victory of 2026.
And he didn’t exactly sneak up on anyone.
Byron led 362 of the 500 laps, swept both stages and controlled the race for much of the afternoon. When it was over, he had his 17th career Cup Series victory, his fourth at Martinsville and, perhaps most satisfying, a return to Victory Lane at the same track where he last won, in last year’s fall race.
The victory also extended Byron’s streak of consecutive seasons with at least one Cup Series win to seven. Not bad for a driver who had spent the better part of 2026 wondering when the next one was going to arrive.
“We’ve had our struggles,” Byron said. “But man, today feels damn good. This team’s worked really hard. … We never quit. There’s something to be said about that.”
Elliott made sure Byron didn’t simply coast to the finish. After the final round of green-flag pit stops, Elliott began cutting into what had been a comfortable advantage. With 30 laps remaining, the gap had shrunk to roughly one second, giving the Hendrick teammates one final opportunity to turn a Sunday afternoon into an intra-team disagreement.
“I was running as hard as I could go,” Elliott said. “I really fell off hard on the run before, and I think that’s probably what hurt me the most with having to make up that gap. William had that gap to play with and he did a great job managing that. He saved and he knew I was pressing.”
But Byron held his ground. Elliott couldn’t quite get close enough to make a serious challenge, and Byron eventually crossed the finish line 2.049 seconds ahead.
It was the longest green-flag run of the afternoon, with the final 230 laps completed without a caution. That meant no convenient yellow flag, no opportunity for the field to reshuffle and no last-minute lottery ticket for anyone hoping Byron might make a mistake.
He didn’t.
“Chase is so good at managing his tires,” Byron said of the final run. “I felt like I was going to have to do a really good job just to keep my tires happy through lap traffic.”
The race, however, had hardly been a straightforward affair for everyone. While Byron was busy collecting stage points and leading laps, the championship contenders were discovering that Martinsville can be a rather unpleasant place when a pit strategy goes wrong.
The first stage quickly developed into an episode of NASCAR’s version of the haves and have-nots. Denny Hamlin and Ty Gibbs led early, but much of the field elected to split the 130-lap stage by making pit stops around the halfway point. Seven drivers, including Hamlin, decided to stay out and run the stage to its conclusion.
Ryan Preece was among them, and for a while it looked like a stroke of genius. Preece took the lead on Lap 84 and eventually built an advantage of approximately seven seconds.
There was just one problem. The rest of the field had considerably fresher tires.
As the stage wound down, the cars that had pitted began making their way through the field. Byron, on fresh rubber, swept past Preece for the lead with five laps remaining in the stage.
Preece managed to hang on for third, but the same couldn’t be said for several of the drivers who had gambled on staying out.
Byron won the stage, while Hamlin and Chase Briscoe finished 17th and 21st, respectively. Larson, who had mirrored Hamlin’s strategy, suffered an even bigger setback, finishing 23rd and going a lap down. He wasn’t in position to receive the free pass and remained a lap down when the field returned to green for Stage 2 on Lap 142.
For two drivers who entered the afternoon with championship ambitions, it was hardly the sort of start they had in mind.
Larson eventually recovered to finish ninth, while Hamlin worked his way back into the top 10, finishing sixth. Christopher Bell, meanwhile, came home 10th.
With one race remaining, those three are the only drivers still mathematically eligible to win the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series championship.
Larson entered Martinsville with a 73-point advantage and leaves with a 67-point lead over Bell. Hamlin sits 70 points behind the championship leader heading into next Sunday’s season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The result also officially eliminated Chase Briscoe, Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick and Ryan Blaney from championship contention.
Back at the front, Byron’s afternoon was about as close to a perfect Martinsville performance as anyone could reasonably expect.
He took control early, swept the stages and survived the final pit cycles without surrendering the lead. A late spin by Cody Ware briefly interrupted proceedings and forced a restart, but Byron handled that, too.
The final round of green-flag stops began with Tyler Reddick heading to pit road on Lap 336. Hamlin and Larson followed two laps later, while Byron waited until Lap 343 before making his stop for four tires and fuel.
Elliott had pitted shortly before him, but Byron emerged ahead of his teammate and cycled back into the lead on Lap 354 after Chase Briscoe completed his service.
From there, Byron continued to build his advantage, at one point stretching it beyond five seconds. Elliott eventually began closing, but the final 30 laps weren’t quite enough to turn the race into a genuine battle for the win.
For Byron, Martinsville has become something of a special place. It’s a track with personal significance for his family and one that carries particular importance for Hendrick Motorsports.
“I think this place is special for me personally, special for my mom,” Byron said. “It’s always a really unique and important opportunity when you drive for Hendrick Motorsports to come here and try to do well.”
He certainly did that Sunday.
After 35 races without a win, Byron finally got to celebrate again. And while the championship fight will head to Homestead with three drivers still standing, the driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet made sure Martinsville belonged to him.
For one Sunday, at least, the waiting was over.
RACE RESULTS
Greg was a writer for DriveTribe supporting Amazon's The Grand Tour and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, and a Masters degree in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek and a regular contributor to Forbes.
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