NASCAR: William Byron drives to victory at Martinsville
The first night race for the NASCAR Cup Series at Martinsville Speedway was a cakewalk for Hendrick Motorsports—until a late caution sent the race to overtime, that is.
But William Byron survived a final restart and a mistake on the white-flag lap to win Saturday night’s Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 at the .526-mile short track.
Byron led 212 of the 403 laps. Teammate and pole winner Chase Elliott led the first 185 circuits, as Hendrick Motorsports surpassed 10,000 laps led at Martinsville, becoming the first Cup organization to hit that prodigious number at a single track.
At the end of the two-lap overtime, Byron crossed the finish line 0.303 seconds ahead of runner-up Joey Logano, who couldn’t get close enough to Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet in the final corner to make a move for the win.
Byron, who also won Thursday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race, is the first driver to win two events this season. Saturday night’s Cup victory was his first at Martinsville and the fourth of his career.
With his parents on his pit box for the entire race, Byron dedicated the win to his mother.
“When that last caution came out (for Todd Gilliland’s brush with the Turn 4 wall on Lap 393), I thought everyone behind us would pit,” Byron said. “Luckily, we stayed out—we were aggressive. We felt like we could refire on the tires and be OK.
“You’ve got one of the most aggressive guys behind you with Logano. I chattered the tires in (Turns) 3 and 4 (on the white-flag lap) and left the bottom open, but I was able to kind of block my exit to get a good drive off (the corner).
“This one’s for my mom. This same weekend last year, she had kind of a mini-stroke and was diagnosed with brain cancer. It means a lot to have her here, and it’s been a crazy year, but she’s doing great, and thanks, everybody, for the support. I kind of felt like she was riding in there with me. It’s cool to have her here, and I’m definitely going to enjoy this one.”
Logano had mixed emotions after the race. The strong second-place run was gratifying, but it was second place, not first, and it extended his winless streak to 37 races.
“That final restart there, had a front row,” Logano said. “That’s what you can ask for. Got cleared to second, and Willy kind of messed up off of (Turn) 4 and let me get to him, and he did a really good job of brake-checking… He did what he was supposed to do, and kind of got me all stuffed up behind him, and I couldn’t accelerate off the corner and be as close as I needed to be down into 3 to execute the ol’ bump-and-run.
“Couldn’t get quite to him, but his corner entry was really strong, too, which I think allowed him to get in there pretty strong. Overall, the Shell-Pennzoil Mustang had a solid run. Just hate being that close to winning and not making it happen. But big points today, and it just stings. Second just sucks sometimes, that’s all.”
Austin Dillon ran a strong third behind Logano, with Ryan Blaney and Ross Chastain claiming the fourth and fifth positions, respectively.
Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Aric Almirola, Chase Briscoe and Elliott completed the top 10. Elliott leads the series standings by three points over second-place Blaney. Byron is third, 12 points back.
Leading the first 185 laps, Elliott won the first two stages in the process. But Byron won the race off pit road under caution at the second stage break and remained out front for 118 laps until he came to pit road during a cycle of green-flag stops midway through the final stage.
Blaney held the top spot for five laps before making his final stop, and Byron regained the lead when Blaney came to pit road on Lap 308.
After completion of the green-flag cycle, NASCAR called the third caution of the race when Denny Hamlin’s ill-handling car stopped on pit road. Byron retained control of the race after the subsequent Lap 325 restart, with Austin Dillon moving past Joey Logano into the second position.
That was the last yellow flag until the final caution on Lap 393. The four cautions total—with two for stage breaks—were the fewest in a Cup race at Martinsville since 1997. Then again, Saturday night’s race was shortened from 500 to 400 laps.
Quotes
William Byron
Your crew got you the lead at the end of Stage 2. You did the rest all night long. You had to fend off a late-race restart, didn’t place a wheel wrong all night long. How good does it feel to win at Martinsville?
WILLIAM BYRON: It feels awesome. I knew when that last caution came out we were probably — I thought everyone behind us would pit, and luckily we stayed out. We were aggressive; we felt like we could refire on the tires and be okay, and you’ve got one of the most aggressive guys behind you in Logano. I knew — I chattered the tires in 3 and 4 and kind of left the bottom open but was able to block my exits and get a good drive off.
This one is for my mom. This same weekend last year she had kind of a mini-stroke and was diagnosed with brain cancer. It means a lot to have her here, and it’s been a crazy year, but she’s doing great, and thanks, everybody, for the support. I kind of felt like she was riding in there with me. It’s cool to have her here, and I’m definitely going to enjoy this one.
She was definitely riding with you on the pit box all night long. A lot of smiles. What do you think that moment is going to be like when you see her in a minute?
WILLIAM BYRON: It’s going to be awesome. I love my parents. They’ve been so supportive but also kind of let me grow up as I get older. Yeah, I’ve got a great support system. Thanks to all the fans for coming out. Great crowd. Always wanted to win at Martinsville. Got two clocks this weekend, so I’ll enjoy that.
Joey Logano
Joey Logano comes up one spot short. Joey, you rallied there, had you run for it at the end, but with so many unknowns coming into this race, your perspective on what it was like with this car?
JOEY LOGANO: Yeah, it was a good race down to the end. Really hard to pass. I feel like if I had a better restart the restart before that — I think I chose the wrong lane and got the 3 in front of me and just got stuck behind him, couldn’t pass him. Maybe I could have had something for the 4 in that long haul if not.
But just that final restart there, had a front row. That’s what you can ask for. Got cleared to second, and Willy kind of messed up off of 4 and let me get to him, and he did a really good job of brake checking into third, right, which is a good job. He did what he was supposed to do, and kind of got me all stuffed up behind him and I couldn’t accelerate off the corner and be as close as I needed to be down into 3 to execute the ol’ bump-and-run. Couldn’t get quite to him, but his corner entry was really strong, too, which I think allowed him to get in there pretty strong.
Overall the Shell-Pennzoil Mustang had a solid run. Just hate being that close to winning and not making it happen. But big points today, and it just stings. Second just sucks sometimes, that’s all.
Austin Dillon
Best career finish here at Martinsville, Austin. We didn’t have to wait until the end about you coming home. We talked about you all race long. Are you excited where you finished or bummed because you were so close?
AUSTIN DILLON: I’m a little bummed. I like to pride myself in when we get in those situations being clutch, and that was anything but that on that last restart. I spun the tires pretty good through the gears. Once I got back in line there I had some grip, and I feel like we had good forward drive all night long and I just felt like if we got to the gears we were going to have a shot at him.
But our Get Bioethanol Chevy was really fast. We’ve been working our tails off. I’m not going to say we haven’t because we’ve been in a simulator, we’ve been working really hard to make this car as good as possible. We want to get RCR a win, and that’s what we’re here racing for. I want to shout out to my wife and Ace back at home and thank the good Lord for bringing us a good run. That was a lot of fun.
Race Results
- (5) William Byron, Chevrolet, 403.
- (14) Joey Logano, Ford, 403.
- (23) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 403.
- (12) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 403.
- (27) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 403.
- (18) Kurt Busch, Toyota, 403.
- (11) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 403.
- (2) Aric Almirola, Ford, 403.
- (19) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 403.
- (1) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 403.
- (13) Austin Cindric #, Ford, 403.
- (15) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 403.
- (24) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 403.
- (6) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 403.
- (4) Chris Buescher, Ford, 403.
- (21) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 403.
- (9) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 403.
- (22) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, 403.
- (8) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 403.
- (7) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 402.
- (3) Cole Custer, Ford, 402.
- (20) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 401.
- (34) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 401.
- (36) AJ Allmendinger(i), Chevrolet, 401.
- (16) Michael McDowell, Ford, 400.
- (29) Harrison Burton #, Ford, 400.
- (28) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 400.
- (25) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 400.
- (30) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 399.
- (10) Todd Gilliland #, Ford, 399.
- (17) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 398.
- (26) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 397.
- (35) Cody Ware, Ford, 394.
- (32) JJ Yeley(i), Ford, 392.
- (31) Josh Bilicki(i), Chevrolet, 391.
- (33) BJ McLeod, Ford, Handling, 132.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 79.244 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 40 Mins, 30 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.303 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 4 for 36 laps.
Lead Changes: 5 among 4 drivers.
Lap Leaders: C. Elliott 1-185;W. Byron 186-303;R. Blaney 304-308;W. Byron 309-319;A. Dillon 320;W. Byron 321-403.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): William Byron 3 times for 212 laps; Chase Elliott 1 time for 185 laps; Ryan Blaney 1 time for 5 laps; Austin Dillon 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 9,24,41,20,10,4,12,22,2,45
Stage #2 Top Ten: 9,24,22,12,41,3,10,2,20,4