Blaney Wins Martinsville as the Championship Four is Decided
Ryan Blaney, driver of the #12 Discount Tire Ford, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway on October 29, 2023 in Martinsville, Virginia. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
MARTINSVILLE, VA – October 29, 2023 – Ryan Blaney started out good and ended it with a win to qualify him fr the Championship Four to run for a championship next week at Phoenix Raceway. Blaney didn’t need to win at Martinsville to have a chance at the Cup Series title but he got the victory anyway.
Blaney drove away from Aric Almirola and Denny Hamlin over the final 25 laps of the race to get the first win of his career at Martinsville and join Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson and William Byron as the four drivers racing for the title on Nov. 5 at Phoenix Raceway. Blaney joins Kyle Larson, William
MARTINSVILLE, VA – October 29, 2023 – Ryan Blaney started out good and ended it with a win to qualify him fr the Championship Four to run for a championship next week at Phoenix Raceway. Blaney didn’t need to win at Martinsville to have a chance at the Cup Series title but he got the victory anyway.
Blaney drove away from Aric Almirola and Denny Hamlin over the final 25 laps of the race to get the first win of his career at Martinsville and join Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson and William Byron as the four drivers racing for the title on Nov. 5 at Phoenix Raceway. Blaney joins Kyle Larson, William Byron and Christopher Bell in the championship race.
Byron entered the race with seemed like a comfortable lead over others, , but had to scramble to finish in the fourth position.
Regular season Martin Truex didn’t have a good day.
"Really disappointed," Truex said." I mean, I thought I was well under speed leaving that box. Clearly, we were speeding, so... Obviously we have something to look at there. It's devastating. That's racing."
The race over the final stage became about how much ground Byron could make up through the field while hoping that Blaney won and Hamlin didn’t. That’s exactly what happened, as Byron got into the final four by fewer than 10 points as he finished 13th.
Hamlin was running second to Blaney when the caution flew for Michael McDowell’s spin on lap 322 of the 500-lap race. He and Blaney both pitted as they knew they could make it to the end of the race on fuel. Other cars didn’t with the hope that another caution or five would happen and they could pit for fresh tires and necessary gas under yellow.
A caution never materialized. McDowell’s spin was the last caution of the race and the drivers that were at the front like Chase Elliott and others had to pit. Blaney was able to work his way forward better than Hamlin was and ended up more than five seconds ahead of Hamlin at the checkered flag.
Blaney led 145 laps and was the only driver to lead more than 83 circuits. Now it’s on to Phoenix to determine a champion for 2023.
Unofficial Results: Xfinity 500, Martinsville Speedway, October 29, 2023
Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1)11, Ryan Blaney (P), No. 12 Discount Tire Ford, 500, 2, 1, 4, 145, 6, 59, Running
2)12, Aric Almirola, No. 10 Smithfield Ford, 500, , , 1, 66, , 35, Running
3)4, Denny Hamlin (P), No. 11 FedEx Toyota, 500, 1, 2, 4, 156, 1, 53, Running
4)3, Chase Briscoe, No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford, 500, 4, 3, , , , 48, Running
5)15, Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 500, 9, 4, , , , 41, Running
6)5, Kyle Larson (P), No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, 500, , , , , , 31, Running
7)7, Christopher Bell (P), No. 20 Interstate Batteries Toyota, 500, 6, 10, , , , 36, Running
8)18, Chris Buescher (P), No. 17 Nexletol Ford, 500, , , , , , 29, Running
9)21, Austin Cindric, No. 2 Menards/Richmond Water Heaters Ford, 500, , , , , , 28, Running
10)17, Todd Gilliland, No. 38 Quincy Compressor Ford, 500, , 8, , , , 30, Running
11)6, Bubba Wallace, No. 23 Xfinity Toyota, 500, , , , , , 26, Running
12)1, Martin Truex Jr. (P), No. 19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota, 500, 3, , 1, 47, , 33, Running
13)16, William Byron (P), No. 24 PODS Chevrolet, 499, , , , , , 24, Running
14)13, Ross Chastain, No. 1 Moose Fraternity Chevrolet, 499, , , , , , 23, Running
15)28, Harrison Burton, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford, 499, , , , , , 22, Running
16)8, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford, 499, 10, 9, , , , 24, Running
17)14, Chase Elliott (P), No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 499, , , 2, 83, , 20, Running
18)2, Ty Gibbs #, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota, 499, 7, 6, , , , 28, Running
19)20, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Kroger/Reese's Chevrolet, 499, , , , , , 18, Running
20)9, Ryan Preece, No. 41 United Rentals Ford, 499, 8, 7, , , , 24, Running
21)29, Erik Jones, No. 43 Allegiant Allways Rewards Chevrolet, 499, , , , , , 16, Running
22)30, Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Gainbridge Chevrolet, 499, , , 1, 3, , 15, Running
23)26, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet, 499, , , , , , 14, Running
24)34, Ty Dillon, No. 77 Ferris Commercial Mowers Chevrolet, 499, , , , , , 13, Running
25)23, Michael McDowell, No. 34 StageFront.VIP Ford, 499, , , , , , 12, Running
26)19, Tyler Reddick (P), No. 45 The Beast Unleashed Toyota, 498, , , , , , 11, Running
27)31, Kyle Busch, No. 8 BetMGM Chevrolet, 498, , , , , , 10, Running
28)25, AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Action Industries Chevrolet, 498, , , , , , 9, Running
29)33, Ryan Newman(i), No. 51 Biohaven/Jacob Co Ford, 497, , , , , , 0, Running
30)24, Justin Haley, No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, 497, , , , , , 7, Running
31)32, Carson Hocevar(i), No. 42 Sunseeker Resorts Chevrolet, 496, , , , , , 0, Running
32)22, Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 496, , , , , , 5, Running
33)10, Brad Keselowski, No. 6 King's Hawaiian Ford, 306, 5, 5, , , , 16, Running
34)27, Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Jockey Outdoors By Luke Bryan Chevrolet, 274, , , , , , 3, DVP
35)35, JJ Yeley(i), No. 15 IFCJ.org Ford, 271, , , , , , 0, Accident
36)36, BJ McLeod(i), No. 78 Falk'd Up Garage Chevrolet, 147, , , , , , 0, Overheating
(i)Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#)Rookie, (P)Playoffs
Race Length:500 Laps, 263. Miles
Time of Race:3 Hrs, 29 Mins, 43 Secs.
Average Speed:75.244 MPH
Margin of Victory:0.899 Seconds
Stage 1 Top 10:11, 12, 19, 14, 6, 20, 54, 41, 22, 4
Stage 2 Top 10:12, 11, 14, 22, 6, 54, 41, 38, 4, 20
Comments:Ryan Blaney won the Xfinity 500 at Martinveills Speedway, his 10th NASCAR Cup Series victory.
Cautions:7 for 61 laps;
Laps: 105-111 (No. 3, 48, 21, 7 Incident Backstretch [99]);
132-140(Stage 1 Conclusion [15]);
217-225(No. 20, 51 Incident Turn 4 [45]);
262-270(Stage 2 Conclusion [77]);
274-284(No. 22, 54, 6, 1, 38, 2, 34, 99 Incident Turn 3 [47]);
304-310(No. 42, 54 Incident Turn 2 [21]);
324-332(No. 34 Spin Turn 2 [77]).
Lead Changes:12 among 6 drivers;
M. Truex Jr. (P) 1-47;
D. Hamlin (P) 48-193;
R. Blaney (P) 194-218;
D. Hamlin (P) 219-226;
R. Blaney (P) 227-228;
D. Hamlin (P) 229;
R. Blaney (P) 230-324;
D. Hamlin (P) 325;
C. Elliott (P) 326-331;
C. LaJoie 332-334;
C. Elliott (P) 335-411;
A. Almirola 412-477;
R. Blaney (P) 478-500.
Xfinity 500 Unofficial Points: Martinsville Speedway
Rank Driver Car Starts GL Points Ldr Nxt Race Wins Stage Wins Playoff Pts
1) Ryan Blaney (P) 12 35 2 5000 0 0 3 6 14
2) Christopher Bell (P)20 35 0 5000 0 0 2 4 16
3) Kyle Larson (P) 5 35 1 5000 0 0 4 8 24
4) William Byron (P) 24 35 -3 5000 0 0 6 8 41
5) Denny Hamlin (P) 11 35 2 2354 -26462646 3 8 32
6) Tyler Reddick (P) 45 35 -1 2329 -267125 2 6 16
7) Brad Keselowski 6 35 2 2278 -272251 0 6 11
8) Chris Buescher (P) 17 35 0 2263 -273715 3 1 21
9) Ross Chastain 1 35 1 2242 -275821 1 5 11
10)Bubba Wallace23 35 1 2242 -27580 0 0 0
11)Joey Logano 22 35 2 2239 -27613 1 3 8
12)Martin Truex Jr (P)19 35 -6 2228 -277211 3 6 36
13)Kyle Busch 8 35 -1 2220 -27808 3 2 19
14)Kevin Harvick4 35 0 2194 -280626 0 1 4
15)Michael McDowell 34 35 0 2157 -284337 1 2 7
16)Ricky Stenhouse Jr 47 35 0 2154 -28463 1 0 5
17)Chase Elliott (P) 9 28 0 799 -42011355 0 2 1
18)Ty Gibbs # 54 35 1 755 -424544 0 0 0
19)Daniel Suarez99 35 -1 730 -427025 0 0 0
20)AJ Allmendinger 16 35 0 687 -431343 1 0 5
21)Alex Bowman 48 32 0 681 -43196 0 0 0
22)Aric Almirola10 35 0 651 -434930 0 1 0
23)Austin Cindric 2 35 0 624 -437627 0 1 0
24)Ryan Preece 41 35 0 614 -438610 0 1 0
25)Corey LaJoie 7 35 0 597 -440317 0 0 0
26)Justin Haley 31 35 0 585 -441512 0 0 0
27)Erik Jones 43 35 0 557 -444328 0 0 0
28)Todd Gilliland 38 35 0 547 -445310 0 0 0
29)Chase Briscoe14 35 1 521 -447926 0 0 0
30)Austin Dillon3 35 -1 520 -44801 0 0 0
31)Harrison Burton 21 35 0 441 -455979 0 0 0
32)Ty Dillon 77 35 0 355 -464586 0 0 0
33)Noah Gragson 21 0 199 -4801156 0 0 0
34)Cody Ware 7 0 65 -4935134 0 0 0
35)Jenson Button 3 0 45 -495520 0 0 0
36)Mike Rockenfeller 3 0 39 -49616 0 0 0
37)Travis Pastrana 1 0 26 -497413 0 0 0
38)Brodie Kostecki 1 0 15 -498511 0 0 0
39)Jimmie Johnson 3 0 12 -49883 0 0 0
40)Kimi Raikkonen 1 0 8 -49924 0 0 0
41)Jonathan Davenport 1 0 1 -49997 0 0 0
42)Shane Van Gisbergen(i) 2 0 0 -50001 1 0 0
43)Josh Berry(i) 10 0 0 -50000 0 0 0
44)JJ Yeley(i) 15 25 0 0 -50000 0 0 0
45)Riley Herbst(i) 4 0 0 -50000 0 0 0
46)Zane Smith(i) 8 0 0 -50000 0 0 0
47)Chandler Smith(i) 3 0 0 -50000 0 0 0
48)Carson Hocevar(i) 42 8 0 0 -50000 0 0 0
49)Austin Hill(i) 5 0 0 -50000 0 0 0
50)BJ McLeod(i) 78 22 0 0 -50000 0 0 0
51)Josh Bilicki(i) 10 0 0 -50000 0 0 0
52)Cole Custer(i) 6 0 0 -50000 0 0 0
53)Jordan Taylor(i) 1 0 0 -50000 0 0 0
54)Andy Lally(i) 5 0 0 -50000 0 0 0
55)Ryan Newman(i) 51 7 0 0 -50000 0 0 0
56)Grant Enfinger(i) 1 0 0 -50000 0 0 0
57)Brennan Poole(i) 7 0 0 -50000 0 0 0
58)Conor Daly(i) 2 0 0 -50000 0 0 0
59)Gray Gaulding(i) 1 0 0 -50000 0 0 0
60)Sheldon Creed(i) 1 0 0 -50000 0 0 0
61)John Hunter Nemechek(i) 1 0 0 -50000 0 0 0
62)Anthony Alfredo(i) 2 0 0 -50000 0 0 0
63)Kamui Kobayashi(i) 1 0 0 -50000 0 0 0
64)Matt Crafton(i) 1 0 0 -50000 0 0 0
-Ldr/-Nxt = Points behind Leader/Next higher, (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
Ronald Fleshman
Ron Fleshman and John Davison are Editors at ris-news.com