Bobby Travis · NASCAR/IndyCar Correspondent
The Hendrick driver led almost three quarters of the laps and delivered a one-two for his team in the penultimate race of the season, while Carson Hocevar caused the biggest controversy of the day behind him.
William Byron won the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, taking his first win of the 2026 season. The Hendrick driver led 362 of the 500 laps on the 0.526-mile short track, swept the first two stages and finished 2.049 seconds ahead of his teammate Chase Elliott. It was Byron's fourth Cup win at Martinsville and the 17th of his career, and Elliott's second place completed a one-two for Hendrick Motorsports in the penultimate race of the season, one week before the Chase finale at Homestead.
Byron leaves nothing to chance, Hamlin loses the lead early
Denny Hamlin started from pole but lost the lead as early as lap 3. A missed shift entering Turn 3 let teammate Ty Gibbs through to take over at the front. Hamlin did take the lead back on lap 45, but after that William Byron worked his way forward and took control of the race.
From then on, the day belonged to Byron. He won both Stage 1 and Stage 2 and steadily extended his lead in the second half of the race. At the finish he was 2.049 seconds clear of teammate Chase Elliott, who sealed the Hendrick one-two. Ty Gibbs salvaged third place, 13.102 seconds behind Byron and 11.053 seconds behind Elliott. Josh Berry finished fourth for Wood Brothers Racing, just 0.986 seconds behind Gibbs, and Shane van Gisbergen was fifth for Trackhouse Racing. Hamlin crossed the line in sixth, 6.083 seconds behind his teammate Gibbs.
Hocevar's repeated brake checks cause the biggest controversy of the day
In Stage 2, Carson Hocevar first spun on his own and radioed his crew that the car was undrivable. On the restart that followed, he brake-checked Austin Cindric hard several times, on the frontstretch and on the exit of Turn 2. At some point Cindric could no longer avoid the sudden slowdowns and drove nose-first into the back of Hocevar. The damage to his Ford was so severe that the crew had to push the car into the garage early, and Cindric was out of the race. "He just threw a temper tantrum," Cindric said of his rival's behavior over the team radio during the race. There was no statement from Hocevar at first, nor a ruling from NASCAR on the incident.
Hocevar's spin had already brought out a caution that caught Christopher Bell in the middle of his pit stop, and he was also penalized for speeding. Bell's crew chief Adam Stevens vented his frustration over the radio: "Looked like that dumbass spun that car on purpose." Bell's stop on lap 199 came in the middle of Stage 2, and the penalty sent him to the back of the field and cost him valuable time before he fought back to tenth. On lap 215, contact from Joey Logano also spun Denny Hamlin and Bell, before both worked their way back into the field. Early in the race, around lap 105, Josh Bilicki had also retired in the Garage 66 Ford, and he was ultimately classified 37th.
Larson misses out on an early title, the decision comes at Homestead
Kyle Larson came into the race as the Chase points leader and could have wrapped up the title early at Martinsville, but his pit strategy backfired in Stage 1: the caution he was hoping for never came, Larson was lapped by teammate Byron and, finishing only ninth and one lap down, scored far fewer points than he had hoped. Even so, the points cushion he has built over the season should give him a comfortable outlook heading into the finale at Homestead.
According to NASCAR, Christopher Bell is now 67 points behind Larson and Denny Hamlin 70 points behind, so both still have a mathematical chance at the Chase title. For Chase Briscoe, Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick and Ryan Blaney, on the other hand, the title is mathematically out of reach after Martinsville, and only Larson, Bell and Hamlin can still become champion. The season now wraps up at Homestead-Miami, where the 2026 Chase champion will be decided on points, with no further elimination rounds, simply one last race that decides everything.
