Ryan Blaney chased down and passed Chase Elliott with 14 laps to go Sunday to earn a spot in the Championship 4 weekend, claiming the NASCAR Cup Series’ Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Virginia.
In the Round of 8 finale and a week after losing on the final turn at Homestead, Blaney hustled his No. 12 Team Penske Ford by Elliott’s No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet on the frontstretch to advance to Phoenix and defend his Cup championship.
Kyle Larson lost the lead with 24 laps to go and finished third, followed by Austin Cindric and Denny Hamlin.
Christopher Bell passed Bubba Wallace on the backstretch, drifted up into the wall and rode it to the checkers to earn a tie with William Byron for the fourth spot in the Championship 4 and would have advanced on the tiebreaker.
However, after a lengthy wait, NASCAR’s Race Control ruled Bell’s move a safety violation, and Byron was allowed to join the championship foursome with Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick and Blaney after Bell was dropped from 18th to 22nd.
Bell, Larson, Elliott and Hamlin were eliminated from title contention.
NASCAR brought its softest tire compound in history to the track, providing more grip at the start of runs, and polesitter Martin Truex Jr. used that right away in the 130-lap Stage 1 until he was eventually passed by Elliott on Lap 42.
Problems developed for the first playoff contender when Bell, who started with the best points advantage among the six drivers, spun his Toyota while running underneath Corey LaJoie on Lap 77 in Turn 1.
Elliott gained the maximum 10 bonus points for his first Stage 1 win since February’s Daytona 500, but Byron took full advantage of Bell’s difficulty and moved into the top four in points with a second-place finish.
In Stage 2, Blaney, Hamlin and Bell all stayed out on older tires and moved inside the top five as the rest of the field pitted. The segment became a battle of two Fords: Blaney and Brad Keselowski as the duo pulled away from Hamlin.
For the first time this season, Keselowski took the top points in Stage 2, but potential championship qualifiers Blaney, Hamlin, Larson, Byron and Bell completed the next five finishers for bonus points, respectively.
Bell had a terrible pit stop due to a loose lug and wound up in the low 20s after having to come back to pit road. However, with Larson in the top five and unable to gain positions, Bell cut into the lead and moved into championship contention by climbing to 21st by Lap 315.
Blaney used his No. 12 Ford to nudge Shane van Gisbergen into Byron, securing second place with nearly 150 laps left around the half-mile track.
With 100 laps to go, Carson Hocevar was spun for the ninth caution, and pit strategy became an issue. Elliott, Blaney and the lapped car of Bell all pitted, while Larson and Byron stayed out to form Row 1 with Elliott in third.
