William Byron makes NASCAR Championship Four win Martinsville win
Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
MARTINSVILLE, Va.—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 0.717 seconds 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 Lap 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 Cup 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.
“Damn, 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. Bad-ass 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 ass 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.”
Byron’s victory in a must-win situation knocked seventh-place finisher Christopher Bell out of the championship race. Bell came to Martinsville 37 points above the elimination line and one point ahead Kyle Larson, but Larson, who finished fifth, outscored Bell on Sunday and claimed the final Championship 4 berth by seven points.
Also eliminated were third-place finisher Chase Elliott and reigning series champion Joey Logano, who ran eighth.
Larson and Byron will represent Hendrick Motorsports against Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe in the season finale. Hamlin and Briscoe already had qualified for the title race with victories in the Round of 8, but both experienced engine failures at Martinsville.
“We had good enough track position all day,” said Larson, who ran a problem-free race. “We were kind of out of the mess, I guess. Yeah, that was good. My HendrickCars.com Chevy was fast. Our pit crew was on it all night.
“What a performance by William. That’s awesome. I think when the 12 (Blaney) gained control of the race, it was going to be really hard for anybody to beat him. William did a great job on the restarts, just kept positioning himself. Was good enough to get by him on that long run.”
Byron dominated Stage 1 from the pole, leading 125 of the 130 laps. He surrendered the top spot only once, under caution on Lap 30 after a tangle in Turn 2 when Michael McDowell got the lead on an ill-fated two-tire call.
Byron charged past McDowell moments after the subsequent Lap 36 restart and led the remaining 95 laps of the stage. After the break, he was first off pit road under caution and still at the point when Stage 2 went green on Lap 143.
The driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet led all 130 laps in Stage 2, but a caution on Lap 242 changed the tenor of the race. Blaney was one of seven lead-lap drivers who pitted on Lap 245, and after Byron came to pit road during the stage break, Blaney lined up second beside Tyler Reddick for a restart on Lap 272.
Blaney soon had the lead and control of the race—and maintained it until Byron made the winning pass on Lap 457.
The final restart after Carson Hocevar’s third spin of the afternoon was academic. Byron pulled away and wasn’t challenged over the final 11 laps. Even Blaney was impressed.
“Thought I got a good restart, the last one,” said Blaney, who led 177 laps. “Kind of entered up top, tried to carry speed, and he just motored right around me on the bottom. Pretty impressive.
“Just proud of the effort,” added Blaney, who had won the previous two fall Playoff races at Martinsville. “A shame we’re not going to Phoenix as part of the Championship 4. We’ll be doing the best we can to finish the year out strong. But I’m just proud of the 12 guys. They have gave 100 percent of what they had. That’s all you can ask for.
“Wasn’t quite enough tonight. We’ll just move on.”
Non-Playoff drivers Ross Chastain and Ryan Preece ran fourth and sixth, respectively. Todd Gilliland Josh Berry were ninth and 10th.
NASCAR Cup Series Race Number 35
Race Results for the Xfinity 500 - Sunday, October 26, 2025
Martinsville Speedway - Martinsville, VA - 0.526 - Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 500 Laps - 263. Miles
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Sunday, 10/26/2025 @ 06:00 PM Eastern
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 1 24 William Byron (P) Cincinnati Chevrolet 500 1 1 61 Running 3 304 7
2 31 12 Ryan Blaney (P) Discount Tire Ford 500 7 39 Running 2 177
3 8 9 Chase Elliott (P) LLumar Chevrolet 500 4 4 48 Running
4 13 1 Ross Chastain Moose Fraternity Chevrolet 500 33 Running 1 8
5 3 5 Kyle Larson (P) HendrickCars.com Chevrolet 500 3 2 49 Running
6 18 60 Ryan Preece Castrol/TravelCenters of America Ford 500 7 35 Running
7 12 20 Christopher Bell (P) Coofandy Menswear Toyota 500 8 3 41 Running
8 4 22 Joey Logano (P) Shell Pennzoil Ford 500 2 38 Running
9 16 34 * Todd Gilliland Grillo's Pickles Ford 500 9 5 36 Running
10 27 21 Josh Berry Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford 500 27 Running
11 14 45 * Tyler Reddick Chumba Casino Toyota 500 9 28 Running 1 6
12 2 54 Ty Gibbs Monster Energy Toyota 500 5 31 Running
13 7 8 Kyle Busch BetMGM Chevrolet 500 24 Running
14 22 88 Shane Van Gisbergen # Safety Culture Chevrolet 500 8 26 Running
15 10 2 Austin Cindric Menards/Richmond Water Heaters Ford 500 10 23 Running
16 20 3 Austin Dillon BPS/Winchester Waterfowl Chevrolet 500 21 Running
17 6 41 Cole Custer Texas A&M University Ford 500 20 Running
18 21 23 * Bubba Wallace Xfinity Mobile Toyota 500 19 Running
19 34 7 Justin Haley NationsGuard Chevrolet 499 18 Running
20 19 6 Brad Keselowski BuildSubmarines.com Ford 499 17 Running
21 24 42 John Hunter Nemechek Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota 499 16 Running
22 30 99 Daniel Suarez Jockey Infinite Cool Underwear Chevrolet 499 15 Running
23 17 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 499 14 Running
24 11 71 Michael McDowell Gainbridge/WIMNA Chevrolet 499 13 Running 1 5
25 23 38 * Zane Smith Long John Silver's Ford 498 12 Running
26 26 10 Ty Dillon Grizzly Nicotine Pouches Chevrolet 498 11 Running
27 32 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. JackLinks Non-Vegan Chevrolet 498 10 Running
28 33 16 AJ Allmendinger Black's Tire Chevrolet 497 9 Running
29 29 17 Chris Buescher Kroger/Core Power Ford 497 8 Running
30 35 4 * Noah Gragson Farm Rich Ford 497 7 Running
31 15 77 Carson Hocevar Modo Casino Chevrolet 497 6 Running
32 36 51 Cody Ware Rexzilla/Kick.com Ford 488 5 Running
33 37 66 * Casey Mears(i) SI Yachts Ford 478 0 Electrical
34 28 43 Erik Jones Dollar Tree Toyota 406 10 4 Accident
35 5 11 Denny Hamlin (P) King's Hawaiian Toyota 334 6 7 Engine
36 25 35 * Riley Herbst # Monster Energy Zero Sugar Toyota 323 1 Engine
37 9 19 Chase Briscoe (P) Bass Pro Shops Toyota 295 6 6 Engine
Fastest Lap Bonus: # 24 lap 494 / 19.75
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 33 Mins, 59 Secs. Average Speed: 73.744 MPH Margin of Victory: .717 Seconds
Stage 1 Top 10: 24, 22, 5, 9, 54, 11, 12, 20, 34, 2
Stage 2 Top 10: 24, 5, 20, 9, 34, 19, 60, 88, 45, 43
Race Comments: William Byron won the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway, his 16th NASCAR Cup Series victory. No cars dropped to the rear prior to the green flag to start the race.
Failed to Qualify: None.
Caution Flags: 10 for 78 laps; Laps: 29-35 (#99, 23, 38 incident turn 2 [None]); 132-141 (Stage 1 Conclusion [45]); 217-223 (#77, 99 incident turn 2 [45]); 231-237 (#41, 21 incident turn 4 [None]); 243-249 (#51 spin turn 4 [21]); 262-271 (Stage 2 Conclusion [8]); 280-286 (#6, 21, 23 incident turn 2 [None]); 379-389 (#43, 23 incident turn 4 [60]); 399-404 (#77, 99 incident turn 2 [3]); 484-489 (#77, 71 incident turn 4 [3]).
Lead Changes: 7 among 5 drivers; W. Byron (P) 1-30; M. McDowell 31-35; W. Byron (P) 36-265; *. Reddick 266-271; R. Blaney (P) 272-376; R. Chastain 377-384; R. Blaney (P) 385-456; W. Byron (P) 457-500.
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Next Race: November 2, 2025 - Phoenix Raceway
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CURRENT NASCAR CUP SERIES PLAYOFF STANDINGS AND CHAMPIONSUIP FOUR
POS NO. DRIVER MFR +/-
1 19 Chase Briscoe Toyota +0 1 ROUND OF 8 PLAYOFF WIN - 2 PLAYOFF WINS - 3 TOTAL WINS
2 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota +0 1 RUND OF 8 PLAYOFF WIN - 2 PLAYOFF WINS - 6 TOTAL WINS
3 24 William ByronChevrolet +0 1 ROUND OF 8 PLAYOFF WIN - 3 TOTAL WINS
4 5 Kyle LarsonChevrolet +0 3 TOTAL WINS
ELIMINATED FROM PLAYOFFS
5 20 Christopher Bell Toyota 1 PLAYOFF WIN - 4 TOTAL WINS + ALL-STAR RACE WIN
6 22 Joey Logano Ford 1 TOTAL WIN
7 12 Ryan Blaney Ford - 1 PLAYOFF WIN - 3 TOTAL WINS
8 9 Chase Elliott Chevrolet - 1 PLAYOFF WIN - 2 TOTAL WINS + BUSCH LITE CLASH WIN
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