Ryan Blaney advances to Phoenix with Martinsville victory

On Saturday, Aric Almirola announced he will retire from full-time NASCAR Cup Series racing at the end of 2023. He had an opportunity for a storybook ending the following day when he took the lead with less than 100 laps remaining at Martinsville Speedway, but Ryan Blaney had other plans.

Blaney, racing on newer tyres, passed Almirola with twenty-three laps left to secure his career-tying third win of the year and assure himself of spot in the Championship Round. It will be his first appearance in the final round.

He was already ten points above the cut line entering Martinsville, but the victory locked him into the finale alongside the already-clinched Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell. William Byron also qualified on points.

“The last twenty laps, all that goes through your head is there’s going to be a yellow, there’s going to be a yellow, it’s going to screw up the whole race, people are going to stay out, people are going to take no tyres, there’s going to be four cautions to end this thing. Hopefully you don’t get moved, spun, wrecked, ruin your year,” recounted Blaney. “That’s the only thing going through your head, right?

“Just get to the white was the only thing that really concerned me at the time. Running down the #10, I was running harder. I think everyone just kind of fell off pretty good, and I saved my stuff early where I could get through traffic pretty good. It benefited us later in the run.”

Almirola took the lead from Chase Elliott on lap 412 while running an alternate pit strategy that placed him on older tyres and less fuel than others, though he had enough to complete the race. Unfortunately for him, Blaney quickly closed in before passing him. Larson used a similar strategy and finished sixth.

While the runner-up finish is his best of the season, it was surely a letdown as he hoped to go out on a strong note. Next Sunday’s season finale at Phoenix will be his final opportunity to end his full-time career with at least a strong performance.

“Honestly, I’m just sad,” Almirola admitted. “We had a good car. We just fought track position. Qualifying kind of set us behind and then when we finally cycled to the front and got track position we had a great race car. I was being so patient and taking care of my tyres. I wasn’t slipping a tyre. I wasn’t doing anything to hurt my tyres and they just started to give up on me there towards the end, and the #12, his car would hold on a little longer. I’m not sure if he was on four tires or two tires. We were on two tires with some pretty old lefts, so I don’t know if that was the difference or not.

“I’m just really proud and really proud of this team. I wanted that one so bad. I got my family here. My grandparents here that helped me get my start in racing. I wanted so bad to celebrate with my family in Victory Lane.”

Despite finishing third, Denny Hamlin‘s search for his first championship will have to wait another year as he was eliminated as were Chris Buescher, Martin Truex Jr., and Tyler Reddick. Truex won the pole for Martinsville but his title hopes came undone by a speeding penalty. Elliott’s #9 was knocked out of the owner playoffs, meaning the final four in Phoenix for that championship is the same as on the driver’s side.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	11	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	500	Running
2	12	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	500	Running
3	4	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe GIbbs Racing	Toyota	500	Running
4	3	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	500	Running
5	15	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	500	Running
6	5	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	500	Running
7	7	20	Christopher Bell	Joe GIbbs Racing	Toyota	500	Running
8	18	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing	Ford	500	Running
9	21	2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske	Ford	500	Running
10	17	38	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	500	Running
11	6	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	500	Running
12	1	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe GIbbs Racing	Toyota	500	Running
13	16	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	499	Running
14	13	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	499	Running
15	28	21	Harrison Burton	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	499	Running
16	8	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	499	Running
17	14	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	499	Running
18	2	54	Ty Gibbs	Joe GIbbs Racing	Toyota	499	Running
19	20	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	499	Running
20	9	41	Ryan Preece	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	499	Running
21	29	43	Erik Jones	Legacy Motor Club	Chevrolet	499	Running
22	30	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	499	Running
23	26	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	499	Running
24	34	77	Ty Dillon	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	499	Running
25	23	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	499	Running
26	19	45	Tyler Reddick	23XI Racing	Toyota	498	Running
27	31	8	Kyle Busch	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	498	Running
28	25	16	A.J. Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	498	Running
29	33	51	Ryan Newman*	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	497	Running
30	24	31	Justin Haley	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	497	Running
31	32	42	Carson Hocevar*	Legacy Motor Club	Chevrolet	496	Running
32	22	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	496	Running
33	10	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing	Ford	306	Running
34	27	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	274	DVP
35	35	15	J.J. Yeley*	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	271	Accident
36	36	78	B.J. McLeod*	Live Fast Motorsports	Chevrolet	147	Overheating

Bold – Currently in playoffs
Underline – Eliminated from playoffs
Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for points