Ryan Blaney wins at Martinsville, reaches Championship 4
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[October 30, 2023]
Ryan Blaney scored his first-ever victory at his home track
at the most important time.
The Team Penske driver raced his No. 12 Ford into championship
position Sunday afternoon, winning the Xfinity 500 NASCAR Cup race
at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Va.
Blaney passed Aric Almirola with 23 laps remaining around the
venerable half-mile track to win for the third time in 2023 and the
10th time in his career.
His victory in the final Round of 8 playoff race earned him a spot
in the Championship 4 event next Sunday at Phoenix Raceway, where
Blaney, Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson and William Byron will race
for the season championship.
On a tough day for the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team, Byron ran
only as high as 13th, but his finish in that position was good
enough to edge Denny Hamlin by eight points for the final spot in
the championship grouping.
Blaney and Byron will be making their first Championship 4
appearances, while Larson and Bell have been in it twice.
"I grew up in High Point so not too far from here ... Martinsville
is closer to High Point than Charlotte," said Blaney, a North
Carolina native. "I've been wanting to win here for a long time.
I've been super close for many years, and it's awesome to close it
out."
Almirola, Hamlin, Chase Briscoe and Joey Logano rounded out the
top-five finishers in Martinsville.
Like his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Hamlin, polesitter Martin Truex
Jr. led some of the way but finished 12th and will miss a title
chance -- despite being the regular-season champion.
"If we couldn't find a way to flip track position pit stop-wise, we
were never going to get (to the front)," Truex said after he was hit
with a speeding penalty near the halfway point while up front. "The
field is so tight and so close (back there). ... I don't think we
could've beaten the 12."
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Oct 29, 2023; Martinsville, Virginia, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver
Ryan Blaney (12) gets pit service during the NASCAR Xfinity 500 at
Martinsville Speedway. Mandatory Credit: David Yeazell-USA TODAY
Sports
Added Hamlin: "You've got a three-race season, and
the 12 car showed up this round, so he deserves to be in that final
four with the performance they had today. Phenomenal."
Tyler Reddick and Chris Buescher -- celebrating his 31st birthday
Sunday -- struggled in the 500-lapper and also failed to advance to
the final quartet of title hopefuls.
In his last Cup race in Southern Virginia, 2011 Martinsville spring
race winner Kevin Harvick came in 16th.
With two championship positions at stake on the tiny, flat short
track, Truex started from the point and led early, but Hamlin showed
up in his No. 11 Toyota and grabbed the point at Lap 48.
At Stage 1's conclusion on Lap 150, Hamlin was first to the checkers
and collected 10 bonus points, while Blaney and Truex followed and
earned nine and eight, respectively.
However, Blaney took the lead and snared the maximum bonus points at
Stage 2's checkers, with Hamlin running right behind in second.
After the pace car had to be towed off the track for mechanical
failure, Chase Elliott assumed the lead with 175 laps left. He led
83 laps but finished back in 17th.
--Field Level Media
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