Last year, William Byron won at Martinsville to secure his spot in what would end up being the end of the Championship Four. This year, he matched the win with his first of the season, but he will not be in contention next week at Homestead for the championship.
Byron’s championship hopes died a few weeks back when he fell out of mathematical contention, but the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsport team was still chasing a critical win to keep Byron’s six-year winning streak alive.
They delivered at Martinsville, where Byron led 367 of 500 laps, 300 more than the next-leading driver.
Byron took the first stage and lapped his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson, who is close to defending his 2026 championship with little help to his performance Sunday at Martinsville. He swept the stages, leading at the end of Stage 2 as the caution came out after Josh Berry spun Ryan Blaney.
Larson and Denny Hamlin, who entered the race 1-2 in the standings, both fell on the wrong side of strategy in the first stage and finished outside the points. More disastrous for Larson, he fell off the lead lap. Neither driver would grab a single stage point, while Bell, the only other driver in contention by the end of the race, finished fourth and 10th.
Byron had to hold off his Hendrick teammate Chase Elliott in the final stage as the No. 9 cut in on his lead.
“Chase is so good at managing his tires,” Bryon said on the front stretch. “I felt like I was going to have to do a really good job just to keep my tires happy through lap traffic. And the last two runs, everyone's car gets a little bit better towards the end and makes it harder to pass lap cars.”
Chase Elliott finished second for Hendrick, ahead of Ty Gibbs and Berry. Shane van Gisbergen matched his best oval finish with a fifth-place finish.
Denny Hamlin, who fell to third in the standings, finished sixth and is now 70 points behind Larson, making marginal ground. Bell finished tenth but, with his stage points, sits 67 points behind Larson.
Larson is nowhere near celebrating his championship early, knowing that anything can happen at Homestead and the points matter until the end. If Larson finishes third in the first stage, he secures the championship. His goal is to get points early and then be able to race all-or-nothing for a win in the finale.
“I mean, it all could have been a lot worse tonight,” Larson said. “So look at the positives from that. Go to Homestead next week with a comfortable gap, but still not locked up. So we'd love to get a couple of good first stages and then pound it in the third stage.”
Victoria Beaver is a nomadic sports writer who spends her time hopping between race tracks and hippie farms. She’s covered every corner of motorsports that will let her in from 410 Sprints to NASCAR to Supercross. Her daily driver is a 2010 Subaru that she refused to do the smallest amount of preventative maintenance on. Instead, she spends her free time and money building a 42-foot Skoolie to one day travel the country full time.
