William Byron punched his Championship 4 ticket to Phoenix with a win in Sunday’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville. (Photo: Sydney Redden | The Podium Finish)
RIDGEWAY, Va. — Entering the Martinsville Speedway elimination weekend needing a win to advance, William Byron delivered and won the Xfinity 500.
Byron swept the stages, leading not only a race-high 304 laps, but a career-high as well on the way to scoring his third win of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season. More importantly, the win locked him into the Championship 4 for a third consecutive season.
“Things have a way of working out,” said Byron. “You know, God really tests your resiliance a lot of times, and we’ve been tested. Unbelievable, I’m out of breath.”
The Round of 8 through the first two races had been a round of missed opportunities for Byron and the No. 24 team. He collided with Ty Dillon late in the race while running in second place at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and finished in 25th place at Talladega Superspeedway after getting spun out coming back to the start/finish line.
This resulted in Byron looking for a win to advance to the Championship 4.
William Byron won the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway to advance to his third consecutive Championship 4. (Photo: Sydney Redden | The Podium Finish)
“All these guys work so hard,” Byron said. “You put everything into Sunday’s and sometimes you don’t get anything in return. That’s been the last couple of weeks, and honestly, throughout the whole year. We’ve had some close calls.”
Byron chalked the “walkoff” victory after the gutwrenching last two weeks to his No. 24 being resilient.
“Sometimes life is that way,” he said. “You’ve got to keep being resilient, and we were. Just feels damn good.”
With 53 laps to go, Byron got to the inside, made contact and passed Ryan Blaney, the two-time defending winner of the race, for the lead. That pass allowed Byron to enter pit road first when the final caution of the race came with just 18 laps remaining.
Byron then got a great jump from the inside lane and cruised to victory as Blaney was eliminated. When asked about the eventual pass for the win, Blaney said the move was fair game.
“That’s just two guys going for it,” Blaney said. ” I don’t blame him for taking that. I kind of lost momentum, and I would’ve done the same thing to be honest with you.”
Byron had similar thoughts on his pass for the lead on Blaney, as he saw a Championship 4 spot and took it.
“Yeah, it’s hard racing,” said Byron. “We both want to make the Championship 4. It’s a race win. It’s no ill will. It’s just kind of hard racing, racing for the win.”
William Byron celebrating with his No. 24 team after winning the Xfinity 500 to advance to the Championship 4. (Photo: Sydney Redden | The Podium Finish)
Joining him in the title fight next weekend will be Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe. In this era of the Gen 7 car, Team Penske has won all three NASCAR Cup Series titles at Phoenix Raceway. However, even with all three of the organization’s cars being eliminated, Byron still doesn’t look at next weekend as a layup.
“There will be another big challenge next week,” he said. “It’s not like we’re thinking, ‘Oh, we got off easy because they’re not in it.’ It’s not nothing like that. Denny (Hamlin), Chase (Briscoe) and Kyle (Larson) are amazing competitors. We’re going to have to do everything we can do next week to win that one, too.”
Byron will look to capture his first NASCAR Cup Series championship next Sunday, but before that, he wants to celebrate what was one of the biggest wins of his young career thus far.
“I’m just so thankful,” said Byron. “Excited to see my family and just celebrate this one. We obviously go to Phoenix (Raceway) and just go try to kickass there.”
