10/30/2024
Postman 68
Record setting Homestead-Miami race is the perfect prelude to Martinsville's elimination race
By Holly Cain
NASCAR Wire Service
Following a race that featured a track record 33 lead changes – including three different drivers in the final three laps – this Sunday’s final NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 8 race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway is teed-up to settle a dramatic Championship Four set-up.
Six of the eight Playoff drivers led laps in Sunday’s Homestead-Miami Speedway 400-miler and not only was it a thrilling, close finish but pundits, fans and drivers have all wondered if this wasn’t one of the greatest Playoff races - from green to checkered flag - in the sport’s history.
Ultimately, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick employed one of his trademark moves – racing the high line – to claim the win with a pass in the final turn of the final lap. He joins Team Penske’s Joey Logano as the two drivers to have secured two of the four Playoff berths in the Nov. 10 season finale at Phoenix Raceway.
Although he was the Regular Season Champion, Reddick crashed out of the Round of 8 opener at Las Vegas two weeks and wasn’t even ranked in the top-four entering the Homestead race. And now he’s championship bound for the first time in his five-year career in stock car’s elite division.
It was exactly the sort of “walk-off homer” that runner-up Ryan Blaney and third place Denny Hamlin were hoping to hit. But as close as they came - both of them remain below that four-driver cutoff line heading into Sunday’s Xfinity 500 (2:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Entering Sunday’s final cut-off race to set the Playoff field, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell is atop the points standings - 29-points to the good - and Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron – who won at Martinsville this Spring - is seven-points up for those final two available Championship 4 Round positions.
Hendrick’s Kyle Larson, the 2021 series champion, is seven points below his teammate Byron. Hamlin is 18 points back. The reigning series champion Blaney is 38 points below the line and Hendrick’s Chase Elliott, the 2020 series champ, is 43 points back.
The top six finishers at Homestead-Miami were all Playoff drivers. Larson was 13th and Logano was 28th.
“I'm not really sure," Hamlin said when asked what more he could have done after leading the [Homestead] race with two laps to go. “Tried to cover all lanes, but just couldn't quite get off the corner as good as I needed to there on that short run. Short run wasn't my specialty all day, obviously. Either way, controlling the race with two to go, you got to try to find a way to finish it. Just didn't."
As for Martinsville, where Hamlin’s five previous wins are most among the eight Playoff drivers?
“It’s another opportunity, certainly, you're not out of it till they throw the checkered flag at Martinsville,” said the 43-year-old Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 winner who has advanced to the Championship Four three times in the past five seasons but is still racing for his first series title.
Even with his healthy lead inside the standings, Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell doesn’t consider his title bid to be automatic.
“This is so, so intense and we knew coming into the Round of 8 with these drivers, we were going to have winners, winners and winners," said Bell, who has raced for the championship at Phoenix the past two seasons. “Coming to Homestead, you look at the guys who run well here and you're expecting a winner from the bottom-half of the grid, and I think the same thing will happen in Martinsville.
“So, yeah, I’m glad we’ve been able to maximize our points and in order for us to transfer (to the Championship 4 Round), we’re still going to have to be running for the win in Martinsville.”
On the other side of the standings, Elliott was unquestionably optimistic moving forward. He led 81 laps at Homestead – second only to the race winner Reddick’s 97 laps. And in his 2020 oh-so-clutch win at Martinsville – the sport’s reigning “Most Popular Driver” led a career high 236 of the 500 laps – to launch him into the Championship 4 Round. He hoisted the NASCAR Cup Series championship trophy a week later.
Blaney won at Martinsville last year and went on to win the title.
It may explain Elliott’s state of mind for the week.
As he described it, “Very confident.”
Practice at Martinsville is set for Saturday at 1 p.m. ET followed by Busch Light Pole Qualifying at 2:05 p.m. ET. Both sessions are available on MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio and the NBC Sports App.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. won the pole for this race last year. Blaney is the defending race winner.
Photo: James Gilbert -- Getty Images for NASCAR
Submitted By: Steve Post
