Ryan Blaney won Sunday’s (Nov. 3) Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway, earning a berth in the Championship 4 in the process.
Blaney passed Chase Elliott for the lead on lap 486, driving away to win the Martinsville fall race for the second consecutive season. Christopher Bell made a wild move in the final corner to initially advance to the Championship 4 over William Byron. Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott were also eliminated.
However, after the race NASCAR officiating took several minutes to review the final laps, determining Bell rode the wall on the white flag. They chose to penalize Bell, awarding the fourth spot to Byron despite evidence on several Chevrolet radios Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain were blocking other drivers from passing Byron on the track.
“I don’t know what to say,” a dejected Bell told NBC Sports after the decision was announced.
Elliott, Larson, Austin Cindric, Hamlin, Byron, Dillon, Chastain, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano rounded out the top 10.
Martin Truex Jr. cleared Elliott for the lead on lap 1, but the battle for the lead quickly heated up as the leaders encountered lapped traffic. Elliott took the race lead away from Truex Jr. on lap 42. On lap 57, Byron got around Truex Jr. for second, with Chase Briscoe following suit to take third.
Green flag pit stops started soon after, with Truex Jr. being the first leader to come down pit road. Unfortunately, Truex Jr. was nabbed for speeding, derailing his day early in a similar fashion to his night at Bristol.
On lap 77, Bell got loose entering turn 1, spinning his No. 20 Toyota around and bringing out the first caution of the race. The majority of the field pitted, with Elliott and Byron leading the race off of pit road.
After a fierce battle between the HMS teammates on the restart, Elliott cleared Byron for the lead on lap 88.
Elliott held off Byron for the stage win. Blaney, Larson and Logano were the other playoff drivers to earn stage points, with Hamlin making his way from 37th to 15th over the first 130 laps.
The field pitted under the stage break, with Elliott and Byron once more leading the field off of pit road. Byron took the lead from Elliott on the restart. On lap 145, the No. 99 of Daniel Suarez spun from 14th, bringing out the third caution of the afternoon.
Byron took the lead on the ensuing restart, though the yellow flew once more for a spinning Harrison Burton on lap 157. The caution put…
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