Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville had more plot twists than a soap opera, and enough drama to make Shakespeare look like a warm-up act. When the dust finally settled, it was Ryan Blaney, the guy who lost a heartbreaker at Homestead just a week ago, standing tall. Fired up and finally finding his groove, he snagged the victory and secured a shot at defending his title next week in Phoenix.
That wasn’t the only question hanging in the air. No one knew who’d snag the last Playoff spot on points, and the way things unfolded, it was almost as wild as Blaney’s victory lap. With 30 laps to go, three heavyweights—Blaney, Kyle Larson, and Chase Elliott—were locked in a do-or-die battle for the win. Elliott muscled his way to the front with 25 to go, forcing Blaney and Larson into a dogfight for second. Fueled by frustration from an earlier incident, Blaney shoved Larson aside, took the lead from Elliott with 14 to go, and never looked back.
“I got nothing left. Oh, my God, I’m tired.” Blaney said in a hoarse voice. “Good battle. Yeah, the car hung on longer than most. Could really make some ground. Yeah, they just worked on the car all night. I really appreciate them. Everybody to makes this possible, Roush-Yates engine, 12 boys are awesome. Let’s go.”
Blaney was in control, but behind him, the real show was in the fight for the final Championship 4 spot. William Byron, sitting in sixth, held the last transfer slot by a razor-thin point over Christopher Bell, who’d had a rough day. Bell was a lap down, stuck in 19th but clinging to a tiebreaker. Byron held his ground under fire, while Bell tried every trick in the book to claw back a spot. On the final lap, Byron crossed the line in sixth, but Bell pulled a stunt straight out of the Hail Melon playbook, pinning himself against the wall for one last surge. It worked—for a moment. After some head-scratching by the officials, NASCAR ruled the move a “safety violation,” bumping Bell to 22nd and handing the final Playoff spot to Byron.
For Bell, who had come in with a comfortable points lead, it was a brutal end. A self-inflicted spin on lap 78 turned his easy day into a fight for survival, and that initial cushion shrank with every lap. For Byron, the wait felt like an eternity. But in the end, the call from NASCAR meant he’d squeaked into the Championship 4 by the skin of his teeth. Though he admitted he wasn’t thrilled with the way the outcome came about.
“I’m not happy for anything,” Byron said. “But the rule is what it is, for the crossover gate over there, riding the wall. It is what it is.
“I will go race. Just proud of my team. Really a hard-fought day overall. Proud of that.”
Sunday was NASCAR Playoff pressure at its most brutal. And few drivers felt that pressure more than Denny Hamlin. After his team stitched his Toyota back together following a practice crash, Hamlin—facing a must-win scenario—powered his Franken-car from the rear of the field. Instead of cracking, he seemed to thrive on the tension.
Hamlin went for broke with a gutsy strategy, staying out during a caution on lap 190 to run on old tires alongside Blaney and Bell. Behind them, Byron and Larson were on fresh rubber, charging hard. Only Bell got passed as Hamlin and Blaney managed to hang on, staying in the hunt.
But in NASCAR, strategy isn’t worth squat if the pit crew stumbles. Bell’s crew blew it with a loose wheel, sending him back to the pits, while Blaney also suffered a hiccup, clipping a crewmember on his way out and rejoining in sixth. Bell, on the wrong side of the cutoff line, fought his way back up but never quite managed to recover.
“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 24 (William Bryon) didn’t lose positions. I slid into the wall and kept my foot into it. I guess that is a losing move.”
With the checkered flag in sight, three drivers were gunning for the win they desperately needed. Elliott, leading 129 laps and winning Stage 1, ultimately finished second. Larson took third, falling just short of Championship 4 glory. Even Brad Keselowski, though out of the Playoffs, had his moment, leading 170 laps—a career-best with RFK—and snagging his first stage win of 2024.
For a race that promised tension, Martinsville delivered a night of unforgettable intensity. From Blaney’s hard-won triumph to Byron’s nail-biting last-minute save, it was a testament to just how high the stakes—and the pressure—can soar in the NASCAR Playoffs.
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" 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, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
- Chase Elliott Reigns Supreme as NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver - November 22, 2024
- Greg Biffle Honored for Hurricane Relief Efforts - November 22, 2024
- NASCAR Honors Toyota’s Wilson with France Award of Excellence - November 22, 2024