Blaney, Team Penske Run Out of Magic in Spirited Drive at Martinsville

Oct 26, 2025; Martinsville, Virginia, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Ryan Blaney (12) leads during stage three of the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway. | Greg Atkins-Imagn Images

There will be no fourth consecutive NASCAR Cup Series championship for Team Penske as the storied organization’s magical run came to an end in Sunday's Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway. Ryan Blaney, the 2023 series champion, and Joey Logano, the three-time and defending series champion, were eliminated from Playoff contention after recording finishes of second and eighth, respectively.

Race Results: Xfinity 500 at Martinsville

While Blaney failed to score his third consecutive win in the fall race at Martinsville, the driver rallied from a 31st-place starting spot to lead 177 laps, and he went down swinging in a second-place finish to William Byron.

Blaney’s impassioned charge from the back of the field to the front opened a lot of eyes, including those of Jeff Gordon, a four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion driver and current Vice Chairman of Hendrick Motorsports.

"Honestly, I thought it was impossible to win this race from 31st," Gordon said in his post-race press conference following Sunday's Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway. "And yet, he drove right up through the field."

In the end, it was a lack of rear drive that Blaney feels cost him the race. As he approached lapped traffic with 44 laps to go, Blaney knew he was a sitting duck as Byron’s car was maneuvering much better at that point in the run.

“I just kind of lost rear drive on exit, and his car held on pretty good. And it made it tougher for me to kind of work through lapped cars as I was losing the rear. I couldn’t really fade up and come down across, and he could do that pretty well. That’s kind of how I lost the lead, I slipped, kind of got caught behind a lapper, and he took an opportunity to get underneath me.”

Byron would close in and then give the front bumper to Blaney, which would shove him up the hill, and it paved the way for Byron to take the lead and ultimately, the win.

THERE'S CONTACT!!@WilliamByron takes the lead! pic.twitter.com/OddwgtXYEk

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 26, 2025

As for the race-winning move that Byron executed, Blaney says there are no hard feelings and that if the roles were reversed, he would have made the same move.

"Just tight racing. I knew it was going to be three-wide. I was trying to protect, [and] he was taking a run. I would have done the same thing," Blaney admitted.

As any driver would be, Blaney was disappointed to see his shot at a second career NASCAR Cup Series championship evaporate late in Sunday's race at Martinsville, but ultimately, there was a lot to keep his head up about at the end of the race.

"I mean, it stinks, but at the same time, I'm really proud of the effort we put in," Blaney explained. "I mean, from starting where we did, picking our way through the field as fast as we did earlier was really great. You know, going into this weekend, I kept just saying like, I just want a shot to win the race. And we had that tonight, and it just didn't play out."

Blaney finds solace in knowing that he exited the Playoffs on Sunday night at Martinsville after he and his No. 12 team put their best foot forward, and at the end of the day, it simply wasn't enough.

"I know we gave 100% of what we had. You know, nobody left anything on the table with this group, and that's all you can ask for, and that's all you can do," Blaney said. "But the 24 was just a little better than us, and they got the job done. Props to them."

While Blaney had the most heartbreaking departure from the Playoffs on Sunday evening, he was joined by third-place finisher Chase Elliott, seventh-place finisher Christopher Bell, and eighth-place finisher Joey Logano, who also saw their Playoff runs come to an end in the Round of 8.

Race-winner William Byron, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, and Chase Briscoe will battle for the championship next weekend at the 1-mile Phoenix Raceway.

The NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway is set for Sunday, November 2, and will be televised on NBC and can be streamed on Peacock and HBO Max. Television coverage of the Championship Race will kick off at 3:00 PM ET. The Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will carry the radio broadcast of the event.