Bobby Travis · NASCAR/IndyCar Correspondent
Whoever was fastest on Saturday often ended up miles away from the podium on Sunday, and the Xfinity 500 showed once again how little practice and qualifying say about race day on the tight Virginia oval.
William Byron won the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday after steadily improving across the entire weekend: from 22nd in practice to eighth on the grid, 362 laps led and his first win of the 2026 season. Between practice around midday on Saturday and the checkered flag on Sunday lay a weekend that tells far more than the race result itself, namely how practice speed and true race strength often differ completely on the 0.526-mile short track, and how the Chase title fight narrowed to three names ahead of the finale at Homestead.
Front of the field: Byron and van Gisbergen flip the script
Ryan Preece set the fastest time in the lone practice session and still lined up sixth in qualifying. In the race he led 41 laps and ran inside the top five for a long time before spinning on Lap 225 and losing his right-rear wheel. In the end, all that was left was 23rd place, two laps down. Between the fastest practice lap and Sunday's result lay the biggest disappointment among the front-runners, while RFK Racing as a whole endured a tough day.
William Byron, by contrast, delivered the opposite arc. From 22nd in practice he improved to eighth in qualifying, took the lead late in the first stage and never looked back. Teammate Chase Elliott turned in the most consistent performance of the weekend, eighth in practice, ninth in qualifying, second in the race, completing a Hendrick one-two with Byron. Josh Berry (second in practice, tenth in qualifying, fourth in the race) and Ty Gibbs (fourth in practice, second in qualifying, third in the race) also stayed within reach of the front throughout.
The most striking climb of the entire field, however, came from Shane van Gisbergen. Only 25th in practice and even further back in qualifying in 29th, he fought his way up to fifth in the race, 16.265 seconds behind Byron. For Trackhouse Racing, which has so far trailed the established organizations clearly in the owner standings, it was one of the strongest results of the season.
Title fight narrows: Hamlin, Bell and Larson's misstep
Denny Hamlin started from the pole but lost the lead to teammate Gibbs as early as Lap 3, and although he later took it back, he only finished sixth. Midway through the race, Joey Logano hit the rear of Christopher Bell under braking, sending him into his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Hamlin. Bell, who started 14th, also picked up a speeding penalty on pit road during a caution triggered by Carson Hocevar's spin, but still fought back to tenth. Both incidents cost the title contenders valuable points ahead of the season finale.
Kyle Larson, who started third and arrived at Martinsville with a 73-point lead, got his pit strategy wrong in Stage 1, was lapped by teammate Byron and finished only ninth, one lap down. His lead should still remain comfortable: Larson now leads Bell by 67 points and Hamlin by 70, leaving both with a mathematical chance, but only a chance, at the title in the finale at Homestead.
Joey Logano, who had claimed one of the strongest qualifying positions in fifth, still finished Stage 2 in fifth but fell back to 18th, two laps down, over the long final run, and is now mathematically out of the Chase title fight, as are Chase Briscoe, who slipped from 11th on the grid to 14th in the race, and Tyler Reddick, who held 12th from start to finish but likewise has no title chance.
Midfield between holding ground and losing it
In the midfield, Austin Dillon was the biggest mover: from 20th on the grid he fought his way up to seventh, 21.181 seconds behind Byron, much further forward than his practice and qualifying positions had suggested. Bubba Wallace also held steady in the upper midfield, starting 15th and finishing eighth, albeit one lap down.
The weekend went less well for Alex Bowman, who came from a strong seventh in qualifying but only finished 13th in the race. Ross Chastain and Connor Zilisch fared better, both gaining positions compared with their starting spots: Chastain improved from 16th on the grid to 11th (up five spots), Zilisch from 19th to 17th (up two). Todd Gilliland, still third in practice, qualified only 22nd and finished 15th, while Michael McDowell (qualified 26th, finished 16th) and Austin Hill, who came close to holding his practice and qualifying position of 17th with 20th in the race, rounded out the broad midfield.
Back of the field: Hocevar's defiance, Cindric's exit and the look ahead to Homestead
The biggest flashpoint of the weekend involved two drivers who had been far apart in qualifying. Austin Cindric had started strongly from fourth before a brake check by Carson Hocevar, who had spun shortly before, took him out of contention on the restart in Stage 2. Cindric had to take his car to the garage with heavy front-end damage and was classified 36th, 278 laps down. Hocevar himself, seventh in practice, qualified 25th and finished only 21st in the race, two laps down. After the race, Hocevar said of the brake check, in essence, that they had just been having fun.
The back of the field had a tough weekend in general. Ryan Blaney, who had earned 13th in qualifying, damaged his front end in contact with Josh Berry shortly before the end of Stage 2, spun in the next corner and later had to retire with radiator damage. He was classified 35th, 59 laps down. Cole Custer went from 21st on the grid to only 34th, 13 laps down, and Josh Bilicki retired after just 105 laps, having already found himself at the back of the field in practice and qualifying, and was classified 37th.
After the Xfinity 500, only one race remains until the end of the season. Larson, Bell and Hamlin are the only drivers with a mathematical title chance, and after the incidents at Martinsville the finale at Homestead, where the Chase champion is determined purely on points without any further elimination rounds, could be closer than the points leader's comfortable margin currently suggests.
