It was déjà vu all over again for Ryan Blaney and the No. 12 Team Penske organization Sunday in the NASCAR Cup Series Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway. Blaney recovered from a massive deficit of more than five seconds to Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott with about 55 laps left in the race. Blaney would pass Elliott for the race lead with 15 laps remaining and would never look back.

Blaney, the defending Series champion, won the race by 2.593 seconds over Elliott to secure his spot in the Championship 4 field in next weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway. Like last season, Blaney secured his spot in the Championship 4 after a disappointing second place finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

RACE RESULTS: NASCAR Xfinity 500 Cup Series at Martinsville
RELATED: NASCAR Cup Series playoff standings after Martinsville

The level of focus his No. 12 team continues to have in these types of elimination races, one week removed from a massive disappointment, leaves Blaney feeling good about the group he’s a part of.

“Yeah, I mean, it was a week where, I don’t know, we gave away a race at Homestead last week when it looked like we had a chance to get to Phoenix, it definitely discouraged us on Sunday,” Blaney admitted in his post-press conference. on the run. “Our group did a great job Monday morning. We’re going to go back and do our job and figure out what we have to do to win Martinsville. That’s the way this team operates. That’s why I’m really proud to be a part of this cluster.”

Now, like last season, Blaney will bring maximum momentum to Phoenix Raceway, a track where Team Penske has lifted the French Bill Cup in each of the last two seasons. Blaney knows his team will be ready to take home a third straight championship for Roger Penske.

“I definitely believe in momentum,” Blaney said. “I believe in trust and things like that. I think this is the same as last year, right? You continue it until next week.”

Blaney continued: “This team is really prepared to do it. Hopefully we can carry the momentum we had last year winning this race into next week, so…”

Blaney will join his Penske teammate Joey Logano, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick and Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron, who was the other driver to clinch the Championship 4 Sunday night at Martinsville.

While Byron managed to secure the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet in Championship 4 by finishing in sixth place, the team came close to landing a second car in the championship race in its 40th anniversary season.

The driver, who took three wins in the first eight races of the season, enters the Championship race next weekend on a 27-match losing streak. However, Byron has really come to life in the last six races, as he has finished sixth or better in every race in that span.

“I don’t care,” Byron said of people doubting whether he has what it takes this year to win a championship. “I just appreciate our fans and everyone who supports us. And I know I have an amazing team behind me and I’m excited to go to Phoenix. Yeah, I mean, we didn’t win this round. We’ve had ups and downs. “This year hasn’t been as good as last year, but we still finished in the same place, we have a chance to compete for a championship and I know we have learned a lot.

Elliott saw his second NASCAR Cup Series championship hopes come to an end with a second-place finish, while Kyle Larson, who has six wins in the series this season, failed to advance after finishing third.

Austin Cindric earned an impressive fourth place finish, one spot ahead of Denny Hamlin, who failed to advance to Championship 4, in fifth place. While Hamlin didn’t advance, he made a titanic effort in rallying from a late starting spot after a hard crash after his throttle was left wide open in Friday’s practice session.

Hamlin’s team repaired the car and he methodically worked his way through the field, but ultimately he didn’t have the car he needed to get over the last few spots he needed to gain to win the race.

Austin Dillon finished seventh, one spot behind Byron, and Ross Chastain, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano followed him to the finish line.

Christopher Bell initially finished 18th when he passed Bubba Wallace on the final lap, which was enough to advance to the Championship 4 field over Byron. However, NASCAR determined that Bell violated the rules by climbing the wall in the final turn of the race to advance.

After a nearly 30-minute wait after the checkered flag was shown, NASCAR imposed a race penalty on Bell and the No. 20 team, dropping them to 22nd place, making Bell the last driver a turn back. The adjustment to Bell’s finishing position ended his spot in the Championship 4 and ensured Bell’s advancement to the final round of the Playoffs.

While the Championship 4 field is set for now, NASCAR’s Elton Sawyer said the sanctioning body will review data, video and in-car radio to determine if any teams attempted to manipulate the finish of the race.

“Yeah, we’ll see everything,” Sawyer said. “Like I said before, we want to go back, like we would have done anyway. We’ll go back, we’ll take all the data, videos. We’ll listen to the car audio. We’ll do all that, like we would at any event.”

The teams in question include Bubba Wallace, who slowed on the final lap and allowed Bell to pass him by one position, as well as Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain, who created a double-file jam behind Byron, potentially It could have been a concerted effort. to prevent anyone else from passing Byron, a fellow Chevy driver.

The NASCAR Cup Series championship race is scheduled for next Sunday, November 10 at Phoenix Raceway. That race will be televised on NBC with coverage beginning at 3:00 pm ET. Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will carry the live radio broadcast of that event.