Ryan Blaney raced his way into title contention Sunday at Martinsville Speedway, but the rest of the Championship 4 field took some figuring out.
The 2023 champion tracked down and passed Chase Elliott with 14 laps to go Sunday to earn a spot in the Championship 4 field next weekend, claiming the NASCAR Cup Series’ Xfinity 500 in Martinsville, Va.
In the Round of 8 finale — and one week after losing off 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 Series title.
“I tried to save my tires early. … I think it kind of paid off for us,” said Blaney, who repeated his Martinsville win from one year ago that moved him to Arizona and the championship. “To have another shot at a championship is really special.”
Kyle Larson lost the lead with 24 laps to go and finished third, followed by Austin Cindric and Denny Hamlin.
However, determining the final championship-seeking driver took a while.
Christopher Bell passed Bubba Wallace on the backstretch, drifted up into the wall and rode it to the checkers to tie William Byron for the fourth spot in the Championship 4 and would have won the tiebreaker.
The move was very similar to Ross Chastain’s desperate, wall-riding exploits at the half-mile track on the final lap in 2022 — a risky ploy that advanced him to the championship race.
However, NASCAR outlawed the move for safety reasons.
Race Control finally ruled Bell’s act a clear violation, dropping the Joe Gibbs racer’s run from 18th to 22nd, and Byron joined the championship foursome with Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick and Blaney.
“I’m not happy for anything, but the rule is what it is for the crossover gate over there and riding the wall,” said Byron, whose No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet finished sixth.
Bell had to gather his thoughts.
“I don’t know what to say,” said Bell, who missed the Championship 4 for the first time in three seasons. “I understand that the rule is made to prevent people from riding the wall, but my move was completely different than what Ross’s was. I got loose getting into the corner and slid right into the fence.”
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.
–Field Level Media
