With a heroic, gloves-off drive on Sunday in the crucible that is Martinsville Speedway, William Byron earned a shot at the NASCAR Cup Series title and simultaneously saved the rest of the Championship 4 field from its worst nightmare.
Byron led three times for 304 laps – a career best for a single race – and beat Ryan Blaney to the finish line by 0.717s after a restart with 11 laps left to win the Xfinity 500 elimination race under most exigent circumstances.
In a scenario under which both Byron and Blaney needed a victory to advance to the Nov. 2 Championship 4 event at Phoenix Raceway, Byron passed Blaney on lap 457 during a long green-flag run and held the top spot for the final 44 laps.
“Pass” doesn’t do Byron’s move on ap 457 justice. By then, Blaney’s No.12 Team Penske Ford had begun to fade. Byron charged into Turn 1 to the inside of Blaney’s Mustang and knocked it up the track.
Byron rushed past, and Blaney never found an opportunity to return the favor. Hence, for the first time since the Gen 7 race car was introduced into the C up Series in 2022, Team Penske, the organization that won the last three championships, won’t have a driver in the Championship 4 – and the rest of the field can sleep more easily.
“[Man], I’ve got a lot to say,” Byron said with a broad smile. “Things have a way of working out. God really tests your resilience a lot of times. We’ve been tested. Just unbelievable.
“I’m out of breath. Thank you, fans, for coming out. [Awesome] crowd. I watched my first NASCAR race up there just before the start/finish line. Man, I am just so thankful, excited to see my family, just celebrate this one.
“We obviously go to Phoenix. Just go try to kick [butt] there.”
Blaney, who went to Victory Lane to congratulate the race winner, had no issue with Byron’s winning move.
“Yeah, I look back on that long run before the last yellow where William got by me,” said Blaney, who qualified 31st and methodically worked his way through the field. “I just got loose, trying to work through that. My rear drive was fading quick. I tried to manage a lot in the beginning. Yeah, just was starting to fade.
“I was trying to protect. I mean, that’s just two guys going for it. I don’t blame him for taking that. I had kind of lost momentum. I would have done the same thing, to be honest with you. I knew it was going to be tight. I tried to crowd as much as I could.”