44 laps. The race at Martinsville Speedway was closing in on a checkered flag and two drivers were chasing a “must win” to advance to the championship. William Byron had already taken the flags for stages one and two and was up front for the better part of the race. Ryan Blaney had made his way up from the 31st slot to take and hold the lead for over 170 laps. Byron kept Blaney in sight and, with 44 laps to go, managed to nose the #24 into turn three under the quarter of the #12. Blaney was there to close the door but the momentum of the #24 pushed the #12 up and out of the line. At the end, it was Byron for the win and the advance.
The Martinsville win set the Championship Four going to Phoenix. Byron is joined by Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin with wins securing their spots. Kyle Larson pulled enough points at Martinsville to advance. Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott, and Joey Logano were cut from the championship run.
The same scenario was in play for the Craftsman Trucks and the Xfinity Series that had run Friday and Saturday at Martinsville. Both of those race were settled by overtime “green – white – checkered” finishes.
The Xfinity Series – Ritchie Bros. 250: Taylor Gray had the lead for 52 laps and was forced into a charge to the finish with an overtime restart. Gray drove the #54 Toyota into position to hold off Sammy Smith for the win. This was Gray’s first career Xfinity Series win and he gets a Martinsville trophy clock but not a run at the championship.
Justin Allgaier had the stage 1 points and Carson Kvapil had stage 2. For the advance to the series “final 4”, it was Connor Zilisch and Justin Allgaier holding their slots and joined by Jesse Love and
Carson Kvapil. Eliminated were Brandon Jones, Sammy Smith, Sheldon Creed and Sam Mayer.
The Craftsman Trucks Slim Jim 200 also went into overtime on Friday night. Corey Heim took the checkers and his 11th win of the season. The final laps restart and charge put Heim on the line and gave Kaden Honeycutt a second place finish and an advance to join Heim on the championship four. Honeycutt edged Layne Riggs on finish positions at Martinsville.
Heim also swept the stages to show dominance over the entire race.
Joining Heim and Honeycutt were Ty Majeski and Tyler Ankrum. Dropping out of the championship run were Layne Riggs, Rajah Caruth, Grant Enfinger, and Daniel Hemric.
