Winners and losers from the penultimate weekend of racing at Martinsville Speedway.
CHECKERED FLAGS
Alex Bowman
It may have been controversial given his contact with Denny Hamlin racing for the lead, but Bowman put his fourth win of the season on the board in Sunday’s Xfinity 500. Bowman’s previous best Martinsville finish was sixth.
Martin Truex Jr.
You wouldn’t know it by the looks of his battered Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, but Truex Jr. was able to make it to the Championship 4 after his fourth-place finish. It will be Truex Jr.’s fifth appearance in the Championship 4, and he has a shot at a second career Cup title.
William Byron
His run even after being eliminated from playoff contention has been stellar, and it continued at Martinsville. Byron has finished top 10 in four of the last five races at Martinsville, and he’s finished top 10 in the last three races of 2021.
Noah Gragson
A clutch win in Saturday’s Xfinity Series race puts Gragson into the Championship 4 next week at Phoenix Raceway. The JR Motorsports driver beat Austin Cindric by .064 seconds for the closest finish ever in the NXS at Martinsville.
Zane Smith
A walk-off Camping World Truck Series victory gave Smith a berth in the Championship 4 at Phoenix. The win was just his second top-five finish of the 2021 season.
BLACK FLAGS
Kyle Busch
It wasn’t from a lack of trying, but Busch came up just three points short of advancing to the Championship 4. He was in battle after battle on track in the closing laps, but even a second-place finish wasn’t enough to keep his title hopes alive.
Brad Keselowski
The Team Penske driver was in the same boat as Busch and did all he could to try to make it to Phoenix and race for the championship. However, Keselowski also fell short, by eight points, after coming home third on Sunday.
Ryan Blaney
A big disappointment for Blaney who came to Martinsville feeling good about his chances to not just make it to the Championship 4 for the first time but also to win the race after his recent successes at the track. But it wasn’t meant to be after a long day of challenges added up to an 11th-place finish.
Justin Allgaier
It was a bitter pill to swallow for Allgaier to miss the Xfinity Series Championship 4 after his fifth-place finish on Saturday.
Sheldon Creed
The defending Camping World Truck Series champion will not have a chance to defend his title in Phoenix. Creed finished ninth on Saturday and missed the cut by four points.
