Blaney's Back!

Xfinity 500: Ryan Blaney won the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday afternoon punching his ticket to the Championship 4 at Phoenix this weekend. Blaney's Martinsville weekend was a repeat of his 2023 penultimate race where he had to win to advance. This bodes well for Blaney and 12 fans alike as last year he went on to win his first Cup Series championship. Will he do it again this year? While he has fierce competition, he is confident and poised to win his second title next week.

Sadly, Blaney's impressive drive and statement victory will be overshadowed by controversy that surrounded the finish of the race and the two drivers on the cutoff to advance into the Championship 4 round. What has, since the drop of the checkered flag, received the lion's share of attention, is the potential race manipulation set up by two Team Chevy drivers, Ross Chastain in the #1 car for Trackhouse Racing and Austin Dillon in the #3 car for Richard Childress Racing, and the #23 Toyota driver of Bubba Wallace. Both manufactures allegedly took actions in attempts to get their manufacture teammates around the Championship 4 cutline into the Championship 4. It was clear, via their actions and radio chatter, that the #1 car and #3 car were content to roadblock for the #24 car of William Byron the last 12-ish laps to do all they could do to protect a Chevy getting into the Championship 4. And it was fishy of the #23 car to suddenly fall 3 seconds off the pace, allegedly with a flat tire for 3 laps and have just enough time for Christopher Bell in the #20 car to get the one spot he needed to advance. Now, Bell colossally messed up by losing the car into turn 3, slapping the wall, then doing a half "Hail Melon" to the checkered flag. That move by Bell eventually got him a safety penalty, bumped him down to the last car one-lap down, and knocked him out of the playoffs. Where we are now is a tough spot for NASCAR officials, teams, and the sport as a whole.

I do not know the best path forward, and I am not sure that we will ever rid the races of some type of "manipulation" as the drivers, teams, manufactures, spotters, crew chiefs, and teams are all intelligent and adaptable to do what they need to do to win and advance. But I do know something has to be done. Either hefty penalties to the cars involved, the #1, #3, and #23 and/or the manufactures involved, or a change in the playoff format moving forward. I do not believe the #20 and #24 should incur any penalties. From all available evidence from Sunday evening to late-Tuesday morning when I am writing this, it does not appear those teams or owners had any direct impact on the actions taken by their manufacture teammates. More may come out, but that is up for NASCAR to investigate and adjudicate as they see fit within the scope of the 2024 rulebook. All things considered, I do think NASCAR made the best call given what we know happened Sunday on the last lap. Regardless of what plans were in place or attempted to happen, the 20 car violated a NASCAR safety rule. Sure, it may bot be identical to what Chastain did in 2022, but Bell did ride the wall for half of turns 3 & 4 in an effort to gain positions. You could even tell on his face immediately after the race he knew it might not stand. The only other logical conclusion to Sunday evening I saw, and I believe it was Dillon Gaudet on Twitter who mentioned it, was to DQ all guilty parties from Sunday's race and let the points shake out in that manner which would have put the #5 car of Kyle Larson into the Championship 4. That was unlikely from the get-go and without sitting around for hours to investigate all radio chatter, interview everyone involved, review tape, and render a decision, NASCAR had to rule on what was known. And again, that was the we can definitively say what Bell did was a safety violation and therefore, he is penalized. We'll see what happens as I am sure NASCAR will do its due diligence to investigate any perceived rules violations, and I am sure more information, data, radio chatter, and video evidence will come forth today or tomorrow.

Again, we could unpack the finish, the playoff format, the whole sport and what it is today for days on end. I believe the playoff format as it is cannot continue. As far as 2024 is concerned: we have what we have, and all drivers have had these rules to play by this year. There are four high quality drivers and teams fighting for the title in Phoenix this weekend. Moving forward, I would love to see some sort of return to the original playoff format. I wouldn't even hate it if was 10, 12, 14, or 16 drivers. Just something that gives a smidge more legitimacy to the title when it is all said and done. Either way, however NASCAR proceeds, I'll still be watching. I love NASCAR too much to abandon it because of how they choose to govern the sport and the rules they make drivers and teams play by. I might not agree and I'll express that here and on social, but I will never stop watching.

Back to the rest of the race: it was phenomenal. Goodyear and NASCAR made massive improvements with the tire that had such a positive impact on the racing. From my perspective, I think we can probably make the tires wear a bit more to make the racing better, but Sunday was refreshing step in the right direction. Also, I still want more horsepower, but we may never see that again. But what we did have delivered an excellent race before the near finish shenanigans. Multiple drivers up front, drivers able to move through the field with better cars and tire fall-off, drivers slipping and sliding, multi-groove racing, and, an ever so important part of short-track racing, the ability to get to the bumper and move someone out of the way. I must admit, I was skeptical going into the race as we had heard previously that things would be better. I was ready for another letdown. But instead, we got what I would argue as a top three race of the year. It was a nostalgic feel of what we have had at Martinsville from years before this new generation car. Cap that off with a tough, determined, and godlike drive from Ryan Blaney in a win and you're in situation for the Championship 4, we were spoiled with another good Martinsville race. I hope that NASCAR and Goodyear continue this trend in the right direction in 2025. And I hope when the dust settles from this race we are able to truly hone on on Blaney's elite drive and the great competition the race provided for an overwhelming majority of the 500 laps.

Now we shift gears and head West for the final race weekend of the 2024 campaign. The Craftsman Truck Series kicks off championship weekend on Friday night with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship Race on FS1 at 8 p.m. EST. The Xfinity Series takes to the track Saturday with the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race at 7 p.m. EST on The CW. And the Cup Series closes the door on the 2024 season Sunday afternoon with the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at 3 p.m. EST on NBC. Tune in; enjoy; and lets celebrate our 2024 champions!

Phoenix/Championship Picks: Trucks = Taylor Gray wins race; Enfinger wins title

Xfinity = Allgaier to win race & title

Cup = Blaney to win race & title

Header Photo: Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images