By Neha Dwivedi, Staff Writer
The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 is decided, and for the first time in four years, Team Penske has no seat at the table. The biggest shock came at Martinsville, where Ryan Blaney led 177 laps but was edged out by race winner William Byron, who pitted his spot in the title show with a late-race move.
Though Byron swept both stages, Blaney controlled much of the second half, but a bit of bad timing and traffic changed the game. After a final stage-break shuffle, Blaney found himself bottled up behind Ty Dillon, who became a rolling roadblock and opened the door for Byron.
Byron made the final pass with 44 laps to go, diving to the inside of Turn 1 and nudging Blaney’s left rear just enough to move him up the track. The No. 24 HMS driver forced the issue three-wide and muscled through for the lead, with contact that ultimately decided the race. From there, the Hendrick Motorsports driver took command, leading the final stretch and fending off Blaney on a restart with 11 laps remaining. Starting from the pole, Byron dominated the day, pacing a race-high 304 of 500 laps and claiming his third win of the season. The win marked his first victory in 11 races, ending a drought that stretched back to Iowa in August, and continued a season that began with a second straight Daytona 500 win and a regular-season championship.
Later on, Blaney simply called it “hard racing” and admitted, “I would have done it too” if he were in Byron’s place. The HMS driver also echoed the sentiment.
“I hate that we made contact. I think he was probably leaving just enough space as well,” Byron said. “I was going into the corner committed. That’s kind of fighting for space. Yeah, it’s hard racing. 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.”
For Blaney, it was a brutal end to a must-win day. Starting deep in the field on the 31st, he clawed his way to the front and looked ready for a third straight Martinsville playoff win, only to come up one position short of keeping his title defense alive.
Along with Blaney, Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott, who finished P3, and defending champion Joey Logano, who ended his race in P8, were also eliminated from the postseason chase. With both Blaney and Logano out, Team Penske’s streak of three consecutive Cup Series titles officially came to an end, a hard pill to swallow for a team with three consecutive Cup Championships to their name since 2022.
