Christopher Bell was penalized for riding the wall on the final turn of the last lap, eliminating him from championship contention.
MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Ryan Blaney won the NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville in a must-win situation to secure himself as a Championship 4 contender.
Blaney raced from three seconds behind Chase Elliott to take the lead with 14 laps to go. He entered Sunday’s race needing a win to contend for a title in the NASCAR Championship Race.
“So proud of the effort by everyone on the 12 group,” Blaney said after the win. “To have another shot at a championship is special.”
Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick, and William Byron will be the other championship contenders for the season finale. Christopher Bell’s controversial finish left the final championship spot in question for around 30 minutes after the checkered flag was waved.
Bell narrowly got around Bubba Wallace on the final lap and stayed on the gas to ride around the wall and secure a finish ahead of Wallace. The one position would have given Bell enough points to beat William Byron and get into the championship race.
NASCAR penalized Bell for a safety violation after the finish. Bell believed he did not intentionally ride the wall as Ross Chastain did in a similar move at Martinsville in October 2022.
Controversy surrounded whether or not Wallace surrendered a position to Bell to help out a fellow Toyota driver. Scanner audio from Wallace’s team revealed communication about a down tire on the last lap. Chevy drivers were also under the spotlight after audio was revealed from Austin Dillon’s team that possibly revealed that he purposely did not pass Byron in the closing laps.
Elton Sawyer, NASCAR’s senior Vice President of competition, said the scanner audio was not used in the post-race review of the finish.
Logano and Reddick were locked into the Championship 4 with wins in the playoff round’s first two races.
Martin Truex Jr. started on the pole and led early, still searching for a win during his final full-time season. Elliott grabbed the lead around lap 40.
Bell’s championship hopes took a big hit when he brought out the race’s first caution with a spin on lap 77. Bell spent the rest of the race coming from the back as other title contenders gained stage points, erasing the big points cushion he had coming into Martinsville.
Truex’s hopes at the win ended with an early speeding penalty that trapped him a lap down for most of the race.
Elliott won the first stage but later fell out of the top five. He opted for a different pit strategy to gain track position late. Byron, Blaney, and Brad Keselowski spent time in the lead later in the race.
The gamble paid off for Elliott when a caution waved just in line with his team’s strategy.
Byron and Larson battled for the lead on a restart with around 85 laps to go, with Larson prevailing.
Stage points and previous finishes in the round left Blaney, Elliott, and Larson in must-win situations as laps counted down. Both drivers did their best to run down Larson in the closing stage.
Elliott got around Larson first and Blaney followed a few laps later.
Byron held his position in 6th for the remainder of the race, which would have been just enough to advance. Bell was trapped a lap down during the final stage, which prevented him from gaining any spots until he got around Wallace on the last lap.
Blaney will look to defend his 2023 title next week at Phoenix. Logano is a two-time champion. Reddick and Byron are seeking their first title.
Blaney and Logano will look to give Team Penske its third consecutive NASCAR Cup Series title. Byron could win Hendrick Motorsports’ 15th title. Reddick drives for 23XI Racing, which has not won a championship yet.
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