MARTINSVILLE, Va.—With a heroic, gloves-off drive on Sunday in the crucible that is Martinsville Speedway, William Byron earned a shot at the NASCAR Cup Series title and simultaneously saved the rest of the Championship 4 field from its worst nightmare.
Byron led three times for 304 laps—a career best for a single race—and beat Ryan Blaney to the finish line by 0.717 seconds after a restart with 11 laps left to win the Xfinity 500 elimination race under most exigent circumstances.