Xfinity 500: William Byron dominates Martinsville, clinches Championship 4 spot

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron and his No. 24 team were the ones to beat all race weekend at Martinsville Speedway, as he started on pole, led a career-high 304 of 500 laps, swept the stages and earned the Xfinity Fastest Lap en route to his third win of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season.

In a nearly must-win situation, the driver of the No. 24 Cincinnati Chevrolet earned a race maximum of 61 points in the Xfinity 500, in addition to his victory to clinch a spot in the Championship 4 for the third consecutive year.

“Things have a way of working out,” Byron said. “God really tests your resilience a lot of times. We’ve been tested. Just unbelievable. I watched my first NASCAR race up there just before the start/finish line. Man, I am just so thankful, excited to see my family and just celebrate this one.

“I mean, we just worked so hard, all these guys work so hard. You put everything into Sundays. Sometimes you don’t get anything in return. That’s been the last couple weeks. Honestly, throughout the year, we had some close calls. But sometimes life is that way. You just have to keep being resilient, and this No. 24 team did that.”

Byron was also the first driver in Cup Series Playoffs history to start on pole, sweep the stages and win, according to Daniel Céspedes.

The only car that seemed to have anything for the No. 24 Chevrolet was the No. 12 Discount Tire Ford of Ryan Blaney, who won the last two Martinsville fall races. He had to start 31st after a poor qualifying effort in a must-win situation.

The Team Penske driver made his way up to the front and led 177 of 500 laps and had led laps 385-456 before Byron got around him after moving him up the track. After finishing second, Blaney’s streak of making the Championship 4 and finishing in the top two in points came to an end.

“We just came up short,” Blaney said. “We did a good job and we got control of the race for a bit, but, gosh, his car was really fast. My rears started to go away pretty big on that long run and working through lap traffic he was able to get by me. Then he got control of the race from there and his car was really fast. I never really thought I had much for him, especially as I think it got cooler. I feel like his car got even better, so he just had great rear drive and they were able to utilize it. I’m proud of our effort. I’m proud of coming from where we qualified and getting to lead and leading laps and had a shot at the win. It stinks to come up short, but I’m really proud of the effort and proud of our year.”

Chase Elliott’s No. 9 LLumar Chevrolet did not lead a lap, but stayed towards the front of the field throughout the race. Elliott, who was also in a must-win situation, finished third and did not advance to the Championship 4.

Elliott has now finished inside the top four in the last four Martinsville races (third, second, fourth, third).

“Just be positioned better,” Elliott said when asked what more he could have done. “Obviously, those final laps get tough when the guys out front have a big advantage when the track cleans off like that. It was just going to be difficult. I was just hoping, in my position, to get to a spot where I could maybe capitalize if something crazy happened.

“Outside of that, we just got a little too far behind at the three-quarter mark. We got caught a lap down in the cycle, and then from there, we were just kind of playing catch-up. We just weren’t quite good enough, truthfully. William (Byron) and the No. 24 team did a great job and capitalized on a fast Saturday; put themselves in a good spot and got it done.”

Results from the 2025 Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway are listed below:

Toyota Engine Woes, Other Troubles

Toyota had a race to forget, as three of its drivers had engine failures, including the two drivers who had already locked themselves into the Championship 4 after Chase Briscoe won at Talladega last week and Denny Hamlin at Las Vegas the week before that.

Luckily for the Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, if they had not won the previous two races, their DNFs in this event would likely have caused them to miss the Championship 4.

23XI Racing driver Riley Herbst, in his No. 35 Monster Energy Zero Sugar Toyota, also had engine issues.

Other Race Facts

The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 is now set:

Kyle Larson will be looking for his second title (2021), while Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe and William Byron will all be looking for their first.

There was a lot of chaos in the 2025 Xfinity 500 as multiple drivers were involved in multiple incidents in some way. For example, Carson Hocevar, Daniel Suárez and Bubba Wallace were all involved in three incidents apiece.

The four drivers who were eliminated from the Cup Series Playoffs are Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano and Chase Elliott.

Bell won three of the first four races of the 2025 Cup Series season. Despite winning four total races and having just one finish in the postseason worse than eighth (29th at Darlington), the driver of the No. 20 Coofandy Menswear Toyota will still miss the Championship 4.

If there was no new winner at Martinsville, or if Hamlin failed to win his Round of 8 race at Las Vegas, Bell would have locked into the Championship 4 on points as he scored the second most points among the eight playoff drivers.

“It seemed like we were just lacking a little bit of long run pace,” Bell said. “When I got the balance close at times, I could take off on tires and do ok and make some passes and maintain my position. And then, the consistent theme of the day was just falling backwards as the tires got old. We weren’t strong enough at Martinsville this weekend. We practiced in the teens, qualified in the teens and kind of raced back there most of the day. I feel content with the results, the four who are going there are legitimate contenders and whoever the champion is will be well deserved. The 20 team just wasn’t good enough.”

 

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