Blaney gets shot at back-to-back NASCAR titles after controversial finish at Martinsville Speedway
MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Ryan Blaney held off a late charge from Kyle Larson and survived a chaotic last lap at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday to win the NASCAR Cup Series race and secure a spot in the Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway next month.
The win was Blaney’s fourth of the season and his first at Martinsville. It was also a victory that came with a controversial finish. On the final lap, Chase Elliott and Ross Chastain collided in Turn 4, sending both drivers spinning.
Blaney, who was running second at the time, avoided the contact and took the lead. He then held on to win by 0.752 seconds, a margin that left Larson in second and Joey Logano in third. Elliott finished 10th, while Chastain came home in 11th.
“That last lap was pretty crazy,” said Blaney, who will now have a chance to become the first driver to win back-to-back NASCAR Cup Series championships since Jimmie Johnson in 2006-07. “I didn’t really know what was going on, but I knew I had to stay calm and just drive as hard as I could.”
“This means a lot. This track is hard to win at, and I feel like we’ve always been decent at Martinsville, but we haven’t always been good enough.”
With the win, Blaney joined Larson, Logano, and Christopher Bell in the Championship 4. The four drivers will race for the championship at Phoenix Raceway on Nov. 5.
“We were kind of on a rollercoaster there in that final run,” said Blaney, who had to restart in the 11th position following an earlier caution period. “But my car was pretty good today. I was able to move my way up through there, and I’m happy with the way things worked out.”
The race was filled with several moments of controversy. On Lap 423, Brad Keselowski’s car spun out after a clash with William Byron and Aric Almirola.
“I couldn’t go back on my side for fear of spinning him back into the pack,” Keselowski said. “It wasn’t the move I was hoping for, but in that scenario I didn’t feel I had any options. I got into it on the brakes in Turn 1. That’s when I realized I’m probably gonna have to wreck or just have to give him enough room for him to turn.”
“It looked like I’ve got the door down. William doesn’t look like he even checks the run. Just hits the brake way later. Then it looks like they hit, which is just my door, and that caused them to get sideways and it caught me sideways, it was too late to get out of it.”
“My fault for being on the side and he obviously had no way to slow down because they both went into that brake-check mode right there, which he’s the master at.”
“I don’t know why he would ever run someone into the wall. He just missed it by the side. It doesn’t matter where I’m running, they will end up in the wall one way or the other. This kind of stuff doesn’t happen when you aren’t driving for a Cup series team. They just feel so invincible.”
The caution period allowed Kyle Busch to pit from fourth and gain track position, putting him in contention to win his second race at Martinsville in the last three events.
“He is my best friend but he’s my competition too,” said Blaney after Busch sent his car spinning late in the race with only a few laps remaining.
“I got really mad and the emotion was hard to manage. We know that this track will always be tough. But I think this track is where we get in a bit of a fight because it’s hard to pass.”
“If this was an all-star race, there is nothing better than driving against my best friend. When the chips are down, the last 5 laps or so I can really feel it.”
This year has been the first season of NASCAR Cup Series in the last 42 years that a driver has never repeated a win. It is one of the most interesting season in the sport’s long history as there were a number of dominant drivers who went into this race who were not able to secure a spot for the championship title next month.
