William Byron Dominates and Wins at Martinsville

The NASCAR Cup Series made their next trip to the Martinsville Speedway for the Blue Emu Maximum Relief 400. The race, taking place on a Saturday night, was dominated and won by William Byron, who won the race by leading 212 of the 403 laps. This also marks the first time the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet has won at the track since Jeff Gordon got his 93rd and final Cup Series win back in the fall of 2015.

Another Hendrick Motorsports driver in Chase Elliott started the race from the pole and swept both stages in the race, leading the first 185 laps of the race. The race also did not have many cautions, as there were two for the stage breaks and then one with Denny Hamlin’s car stalled on the front stretch on lap 313. Hamlin, who qualified 25th, was already having a miserable race. The last caution came out with six laps to go when Todd Gilliland made contact in the turn four wall, which gave us a green-white-checkered finish, leading to Byron’s second win of 2022 and fifth career Cup Series victory. It was a quiet race where many had issues trying to make a pass on the paperclip-shaped short track. Hendrick Motorsports have now won the four of the first eight races of the season.

“It feels awesome,” said Byron during his post-race interview, “I knew when that last caution came out I thought everyone behind us would pit and luckily we stayed out.”

For Byron, who also won the truck race Thursday night, it was a rather emotional victory.

“This one is for my mom (Dana Byron). This same weekend last year she had kind of a mini-stroke and was diagnosed with brain cancer. It means a lot to have her here, and it’s been a crazy year, but she’s doing great, and thanks, everybody, for the support. I kind of felt like she was riding in there with me. It’s cool to have her here, and I’m definitely going to enjoy this one.”

Joey Logano finished second to William Byron, Austin Dillon in third, then Ryan Blaney and Ross Chastain rounded out the top five for the 400-mile race.

The NASCAR Cup Series heads next to Bristol Motor Speedway which will be on the dirt on the night of Easter Sunday. The green flag will drop at 7:00 PM EST on Sunday, April 17th on FOX.