Byron's Best

William Byron celebrates his win in the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway. (Photo: Dirk Bizub/TobyChristie.com)

Xfinity 500:

William Byron dominated the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday afternoon en route to his third win of the 2025 campaign. The win was the 16th of his career and arguably his best performance of his young career. Byron's impressive performance on Sunday secured his spot in the Championship 4 at Phoenix this upcoming Sunday.

While looking at the stat sheet, it appears this race was a snoozefest. Byron had a max points day and led 304 of 500 laps. However, that is not the case at all from my perspective. The tire Goodyear provided made the racing interesting with tire management at a premium. It did allow some tire strategy, although the best call throughout the day was to get four fresher sticker tires. But we had some attrition with a few accidents (mainly Hocevar) and that did keep things tightened up and interesting throughout the 500 laps. Ryan Blaney did use the cautions (and his raw speed) to drive through the field and challenge Byron late in the race, but it was not enough. Byron was able to navigate a minor setback on pit road to chase Blaney down and move him out of the way to regain the lead spot. A late race caution (Hocevar again) did open potential for chaos to ensue. Yet, no chaos rained down on Martinsville. Byron jumped out to a quick lead, Blaney struggled to get going, and Byron cruised to his third victory of the year and punched his ticket to the championship four in Phoenix to battle Hamlin, Briscoe, and Larson for the 2025 NASCAR championship.

Next up, we head to Phoenix Raceway for championship weekend! The Craftsman Truck Series kicks off the weekend on Friday night with the Craftsman Truck Series Championship Race at 7:30 p.m. EST on FS1. The finale of the Xfinity Series (and the last race with Xfinity as the entitlement sponsor) goes green on Saturday with the Xfinity Series Championship Race at 7:30 p.m. EST on The CW. The Cup Series closes the chapter on the 2025 season on Sunday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. EST on NBC with the Cup Series Championship Race.

Phoenix and Championship Picks:

Trucks = Corey Heim

Xfinity = Connor Zilisch

Cup = Denny Hamlin