Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race was chaotic in its first half and relatively tame in its second.
It was William Byron who scored the win on a dominant day for the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports group that snapped a 35-race winless drought dating back to last year’s fall Martinsville race. The win was never really in doubt over the final run. Chase Elliott briefly got within one second of Byron in the final 20 laps due to lapped traffic, but Byron quickly drove away and snuffed out any hope Elliott had of sweeping the year’s races at “The Paperclip.”
The win is Byron’s first of 2026 and his fourth at Martinsville.
“We’re always pretty good here,” Byron told NBC. “It’s been a frickin’ long road this year. This team’s worked really hard. We’ve had our struggles but man, today feels damn good… we never quit. There’s something to be said about that.”
Meanwhile, points leader Kyle Larson will head to the Nov. 8 season finale at Homestead with a 67-point cushion over second-place Christopher Bell and a 70-point lead over Denny Hamlin. Larson would’ve clinched the championship with a lead of 76 points or more, but a decision from crew chief Cliff Daniels to keep Larson on the racetrack during the entirety of the first stage resulted in Larson scoring no stage points and being behind the 8-ball.
Larson was never in winning contention, but his ninth-place finish was enough to give him a huge gap going into Homestead. Hamlin and crew chief Chris Gayle employed the same Stage 1 strategy, and while Hamlin led early, he also failed to score stage points.
Christopher Bell appeared to be in the best position to keep Larson honest and had winning speed early, but his No. 20 fell off as the race went on. A spin that Hamlin was also caught up in did not help either driver.
Elliott, Ty Gibbs, Josh Berry and Shane van Gisbergen rounded out the top five, with Hamlin, Austin Dillon, Bubba Wallace, Larson and Bell completing the top 10.
Notable results
Other notable finishers include Ross Chastain in 11th, Tyler Reddick in 12th, Chase Briscoe in 14th, Joey Logano in 18th, Carson Hocevar in 21st, Ryan Preece in 23rd, Chris Buescher in 24th, Daniel Suarez in 28th, Ryan Blaney in 35th and Austin Cindric in 36th. Blaney and Cindric were taken out after hard contact to the front ends of their Team Penske Fords. Josh Bilicki finished last (37th).
The 2026 Cup Series finale will take place at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 8, with the green flag dropping shortly after 3 p.m. ET. NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will have race coverage.
